Court ruling stirs politicians

By Jun Ji-hye, Lee Min-hyung

A Constitutional Court decision on the population of electoral districts is expected to bring about many changes in political circles, including a change in the number of parliamentary seats.

The court decided Thursday that legitimate population deviation between the most and least populous constituencies should be narrowed from the current 3 to 1 to possibly 2 to 1.

This means that the populous areas need to be split, while thinly populated districts need to be combined.

Politicians have been paying keen attention to the decision of the court as it will lead to a reduction in the number of lawmakers chosen from less populated regions, while increasing the number in populous areas.

Bae Jong-chan, senior analyst at Research and Research, an opinion pollster, said the number of seats representing Gangwon Province and the Honam area, which refers to the North and South Jeolla Provinces, is expected to decrease.

“I expect 10 to 12 seats to be reduced in those districts,” he said. “This could cause rebuttal from liberal parties as the Honam region has been their typical home turf.”

In contrast, the number of seats in the capital area and South Chungcheon Province will likely increase, Bae said.

“This could foster resistance from conservative parties as a considerable number of voters in the capital area are categorized as liberal or middle-of-the-roaders,” he said.

Following the decision of the court that the current 3 to 1 for population deviation between constituencies is incompatible with the Constitution, the National Assembly needs to revise the Public Official Election Law by the end of next year, a deadline suggested by the court.

Bae said fierce strife between the rival parties is expected during the revision process as they will be greatly concerned about ending up with an advantage or disadvantage depending on how the constituency restructuring is done.

The parties had mixed reactions to the court ruling.

Rep. Park Dae-chul, spokesman of the ruling Saenuri Party, said, “The governing party respects the court’s decision. But, at the same time, we are concerned that the decision could cause enormous confusion for the public.”

For his part, NPAD spokesman Kim Sung-soo said, “We also respect the decision, but it is regrettable that the areas of agricultural and fishing villages could be less represented at the assembly.”

Kim added that the assembly should set up a special committee tasked with defining new constituencies at the earliest possible date.

Rep. Sim Sang-jeung, floor leader of the minor opposition Justice Party, called on the two largest parties to make joint efforts to fairly readjust electoral districts.

“Leaders of both parties stressed the need to compromise on politics during their speeches to the National Assembly Thursday. Both parties need to give efforts to comply with the court’s decision by compromising with each other,” she said.