[Editorial] Upright and square vote on impeachment motion

The parliamentary impeachment motion put forth by the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) against Prosecutor-General Park Soon-Yong and Deputy Prosecutor-General Shin Seung-Nam will be voted on Friday at the National Assembly. The quorum for the passage of the motion requires a simple majority of parliamentary members. This means that the motion must obtain at least 137 votes out of the total 273. But, neither the ruling party nor the opposition GNP has the majority of Assembly seats. Thus, which of the two parties the 17 legislative members of the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) will side with for the vote will decide the fate of the motion.

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) is now out to defeat the motion. None of the total five impeachment motions against the country's Prosecutor-General were passed by the parliament in the past. Two motions were voted down and three were automatically abrogated. Yet, the MDP is showing nail-biting concern over Friday's vote because its prospects are uncertain due to the inherently unsettling number of seats each party has in the National Assembly.

In addition, some ULD legislative members are known to have anti-prosecutor sentiments. Added to this is the move of ULD lawmakers who have opposed the ULD's coalition ties with the MDP to resist the party caucus' stand to defeat the motion. Accordingly, Friday's impeachment motion is drawing extraordinary nationwide interest and concern.

Under the circumstances, the MDP has reportedly adopted a three-fold strategy to defeat the motion: first, it may attempt a fair and square showdown with the opposition GNP to win the vote on the motion by gaining the support of ULD members and independents; second, it may opt to boycott, or abstain from, voting by walking out of the chamber en masse; and, third, it may try to altogether foil voting itself by deliberately creating a parliamentary deadlock, insisting that those lawmakers (10 GNP and 8 MDP members) charged with election law violations are not entitled to vote by the dictate of the conflict-of-interest principle.

To be sure, the MDP and the ULD must both keep in mind that any underhanded tactics to defeat the motion by such conduct as collective walkouts and abstention from voting or filibustering go against the modus vivendi of parliamentary democracy. It will only cause the people's rebuke and ire. Needless to say, their right obligation as members of parliament dictates that they cast ballots in a fair and just manner on the impeachment motion since it was duly moved in compliance with the rules and procedures stipulated by the National Assembly Law. Whether they vote for or against the motion must be left to the free will of each legislator to express the will of the Assembly.

Since the motion is brought in the Assembly by duly meeting all the requirements and necessary procedures of the relevant law, we hope that legislators vote on it in a fair and just manner and according to the free judgment of each Assembly member. They then must abide by the outcome of the vote. No party should dictate its members to follow party lines. Each parliamentary member individually represents a constitutional institution and the rights pertaining therewith. That being the case, it's about time that we should leave a precedent here to let each legislator exercise his or her own judgment on the motion.