National Assembly Flooded with Election Law Amendments Ahead of By-Elections

63 Bills Proposed in First 6 Months of 21st National Assembly
Ruling Party Strengthens Civil Servants' Voting Rights...Opposition Holds Party Members Accountable in By-Elections

[Asia Economy Reporter Won Dara] Ahead of the by-elections for the Seoul and Busan mayoral offices scheduled for April next year, election law amendment bills are being continuously proposed in the National Assembly.

According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 5th, a total of 63 partial amendments to the Public Official Election Act were proposed during the six months since the 21st National Assembly began its term in May. This number matches the 63 election law amendment bills proposed in the entire previous year leading up to the general election.

Min Hyung-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, proposed a bill allowing public officials to engage in election campaigns or intra-party primary campaigns. Another member of the same party, Lee Jae-jung, also proposed a bill to remove the prohibition on public officials' election campaigning. On the same day, the "Petition on the Amendment of Laws Guaranteeing Political Basic Rights for Public Officials and Teachers" was established after receiving 100,000 signatures in the National Assembly's public consent petition system and was referred to the Administrative and Security Committee. Kim Young-joo, a Democratic Party member, proposed a bill to ease the requirements for adding overseas polling stations to facilitate overseas voting, lowering the required number of overseas voters from 40,000 to 30,000 and allowing up to three polling stations to be established.

Han Mu-kyung of the People Power Party proposed a bill to restrict the eligibility of not only the individuals responsible for causing by-elections but also the political parties and party members involved. Han stated, "Recently, cases have occurred where elected officials or local government heads lose their election validity or resign due to sexual misconduct during their term, leading to re-elections or by-elections," and emphasized, "Since enormous administrative costs are incurred, the party and party members who nominated such candidates should also bear responsibility." While the Democratic Party had previously regulated this in their party constitution and recently amended it through a vote by party members, the People Power Party had not specified this in their party constitution.

Ku Ja-geun of the People Power Party proposed a bill requiring the Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation to print ballots, citing concerns that forged or altered ballots could be used at polling stations or early voting stations under the current system.

Meanwhile, both ruling and opposition parties have commonly proposed bills to ban more than four consecutive terms. Yoon Gun-young and Min Hyung-bae of the Democratic Party proposed an amendment that prohibits members of the National Assembly who have served three consecutive terms by combining district and proportional representation seats from registering as candidates in the next election. Park Soo-young of the People Power Party pointed out that while local government heads are limited to three terms, there is no such limit for National Assembly members, and proposed a bill stating, "Members of the National Assembly who have been elected three consecutive times should not be allowed to register as candidates in the National Assembly election upon the expiration of their term."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.