Defining constituencies for general elections

The 19th general elections are only about 70 days away, but the National Assembly has yet to define constituencies, which constitutes a major rule of the game. The civilian-led parliamentary constituency committee in November last year devised a new measure and submitted it to the National Assembly’s special committee for political reform, but rival parties’ negotiations aimed at defining constituencies have generated no results for nearly two months.

The new measure allows the division of eight electoral districts, including the Gwonseon district of Suwon and Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and merging five others, including Nam-gu A and B in Busan, and Yeosu A and B in South Jeolla Province. The measure is designed to adjust the maximum gap between constituencies with the largest and smallest populations to a ratio of 3:1. The minimum population for an electoral district is set at 103,469 and the maximum at 310,406. This standard is in line with a 2001 ruling by the Constitutional Court that determined a population gap exceeding a ratio of 3:1 violates the principle of equality in elections.

The main opposition Democratic United Party suggests removing three seats in the Gyeongsang provinces and one seat in the Jeolla provinces. The ruling Grand National Party, however, is highly wary of the demand to eliminate more seats in areas where it has been dominant in elections. The latter has replaced two of its secretaries on the parliamentary special committee on political reform, but has yet to fix its own plan on constituencies. As lawmakers hailing from provincial regions have protested the proposed cut in the number of electoral districts in areas with declining populations, discussions over defining electoral districts remain stalled.

Election law only includes a process for defining electoral districts but lacks a rule on the minimum number of days prior to an election date that electoral districts should be defined. The ruling and opposition parties customarily drag their feet to the last minute and fix districts through cartel under the table. The National Assembly must compile lists of voters eligible for absentee voting by Feb. 11 to assure suffrage by overseas Koreans, a new system to be introduced for the first time in the April general elections. The constituencies should be defined prior to that. Delaying the defining of electoral districts is outright political cheating that leaves both voters and candidates in the constituencies concerned confused and wary of incumbent lawmakers from their respective districts.

In its 2001 ruling, the Constitutional Court said, “Korea should judge the constitutionality of population gap based on the standard ratio of 2:1 after the passage of a considerable period of time.” Such a gap is 1:1 in the U.S., 1.3:1 in Germany, and 1.5:1 in France. Critics warn that if someone makes a constitutional appeal claiming that the population gap of 3:1 as set 10 years ago is unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court will have no choice but to accept it. The parliamentary special committee on political reform should prepare principles and standards for defining electoral districts in a way that complies with the court`s ruling as soon as possible. While rival parties spent no time in passing a revision bill to the Political Party Act, which has effectively legalized payment of monetary gifts for party conventions, but drag their feet in defining electoral districts, the committee will end up earning the nickname “special committee for political regression.”