By Kim Hyo-jin
Ruling and opposition parties failed to meet the legal deadline to redraw the electoral map Friday, causing trouble for political candidates planning to debut in next year’s general election.
Talks on redrawing constituencies are likely to drag into next year due to the rival parties’ disagreements on whether to decrease the number of those elected under proportional representation.
With four weeks before preliminary candidate registration on Dec. 15, potential newcomers may be put at a disadvantage in launching their campaigns, say critics.
They are expected to have difficulty choosing their constituencies because they will not be sure where to register for the elections, scheduled for April 13, 2016.
Even if they register their candidacies in existing constituencies and start campaigns, their candidacies will be invalid when the current electoral map becomes null and void at the end of the year.
The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the electoral boundaries should be redrawn to tackle unequal representation and the ratio of the most populous electoral districts to the least populous must be lower than two to one. The court also ruled that the validity of the current constituency boundary will expire on Dec. 31.
With no legal candidacy, candidates will have to stop launching campaigns next year, including running the election campaign offices, distributing leaflets and raising funds.
But incumbent lawmakers, unlike political rookies, can carry on publicizing themselves using the existing infrastructure, regardless of the situation.
Those hoping to debut at the next general elections have expressed concerns about the issue.
“We are burdened with uncertainty when running campaigns,” said Kim Hyung-ki, vice spokesperson of the NPAD, who plans to run for the first time. “It’s extremely unfair for those of us who have less chance to be exposed to electorates compared to incumbents.”
The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) pointed their fingers at each other for the failure of the talks.
“The public has a clear opinion against the idea of expanding the National Assembly, but the opposition party was only obsessed with retaining non-electoral seats,” said Saenuri Party spokesman Rep. Kim Young-woo.
Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung said decreasing the proportional representatives is the only possible option he can agree on.
“If we fail to compromise with the NPAD, we can’t help sticking to the existing electoral map,” he said.
But the NPAD blamed the Saenuri Party for making little progress in the talks.
“We were even considering lowering the number of non-electoral seats, but the Saenuri Party vetoed the new proportional representation system based on regional votes we suggested as an exchange,” said Rep. Lee Jong-kul, NPAD floor leader.
NPAD Chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in apologized to the public for the failed talks, saying: "During the negotiation process, the Saenuri Party didn't make any decisions or concessions. It didn’t act as a responsible ruling party."