[Editorial] Make Electoral Law Amendment Catalyze Political Reformation

As the Constitutional Court judged the electoral method of the current proportional representation system, the amendment of the election law became inevitable. The introduction of the `one person, two votes` system is anticipated. It would be difficult to abolish the proportional representative system, which is effective in the prevention of dead votes, the vocational representation, and the female politicians entry into the National Assembly.

The different responses of the ruling and opposing parties anticipate the bumpy road in the amendment process of the electoral law. In addition, since the next general election is scheduled for April, 2004, politicians might want to put off the amendment after the inauguration of the next administration. However, considering the pre-scheduled local election for the large regions` assemblies in June next year, the electoral law amendment should be completed before the election. If the amendment of the electoral law is carried out right before the general election after the next presidential election, the amendment will be deteriorated by the partisan politics. The ruling and opposing parties should hurry with the electoral law amendment.

The unanimous decision of the Constitutional Court was that the current proportional representative system and the deposit system is unconstitutional and the `one person, one vote` system is unconstitutional with condition. The decision declared that the current electoral law has violated the basic principles of the democracy, such as the direct and equal election, and has distorted the public opinions by limiting the suffrage of the people. The ruling and opposing parties must take the Constitutional Court decision as an opportunity for the political reformation, freeing themselves from the partisan politics.

The introduction of the `one person, two votes` system will open more political space to the small parties and therefore increase the possibility of the multi-party system. In such case, the power of the opposing party will be diversified but the chance of the small-ruling, large-opposing equation in the political terrain will be high, which will create administrative and political turmoil by the partisan politics, considering the current political situation.

Even though the `one person, two votes` system would ease the regional confrontation and reduce the wrong political culture symbolized by the current proportioned-by-money representation system, the new system can only be effective by the parties`s democratization. The political advance will never be accomplished as long as the `boss-centered non-democratic party system` and the obsessive tenacity for the majority party of the ruling side is maintained.

The electoral law amendment is the way of the reformation to induce more qualified political elites. To increase the political quality, the parties should be democratized. That is the first step for the political reformation. That is the reason why the electoral law amendment and the party democratization should be emphasized at the same time.