Assembly speaker should feel responsible for worst parliamentary stalemate

The National Election Commission (NEC) on Wednesday made an unusual announcement that it will temporarily allow candidates who will have finished registration by the end of 2015 for next year`s general elections to electioneer even if constituencies are not redrawn. If the National Assembly fails to redraw constituencies by 00:00 on the first day of 2016, the 246 constituencies across the country become legally invalid, stripping all potential candidates of the right to carry out their election campaigns and forcing them to stop all campaign activities. However, the election watchdog`s decision would allow aspiring candidates to open campaign offices, put up promotional banners and hand out their name cards.

The NEC`s decision is supralegal but understandable. Under a situation where incumbent lawmakers can carry out de-facto campaigns by holding public forums for reporting their activities, shackling only aspiring lawmakers is clearly unfair. However, it is not normal for the election watchdog to suspend its duty of cracking down on illegal campaigning. The 19th National Assembly, which has forced the election watchdog to break the law, has added another reason for being criticized as the worst parliamentary ever.

National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa is in part responsible for such a criticism for the 19th National Assembly. During the first half of the Assembly under his predecessor Kang Chang-hee (from July 2, 2012 to May 29, 2014), the parliament passed nearly 3,951 bills, 40 percent of the 9,896 bills introduced. In the second half under Chung (from May 30, 2014 to December 30, 2015), however, it passed 2,058 bills, just 28.7 percent of the 7,166 bills introduced.

"Once we are past December 31, we will be in a legislative emergency," Chung said of the delay in constituency redrawing. It is said that Chung plans to exercise his authority to introduce to the parliament a bill calling for maintaining the current 246 constituencies. Under law, the National Assembly speaker can exercise his or her authority to introduce a bill to the parliament only in the case of a national emergency such as a natural disaster, a war or a similar event. Some people urge the speaker to play a more proactive role under the law.

Chung`s commitment to abiding by the National Assembly law is understandable. However, his insistence on not exercising his authority until an actual emergency happens seems to be too strict about formal logic. Chung is firmly determined not to introduce other bills because there is no "legislative emergency." However, many citizens view the current stalemate on labor reform bills, on which the labor community also agreed, as a legislative emergency. Chung should feel the heavy responsibility as the head of the 19th National Assembly.