ed Numbers do not add up

Controversy is heating up following the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s proposal to increase the number of lawmakers. The party’s reform committee said Sunday that it would seek to raise parliamentary seats to 369 from 300 by increasing the number of legislators elected through the proportional representation system to 123 from 54. The liberal party offered to keep the number of lawmakers elected through direct voting at 246.

Rep. Lee Jong-kul, the party floor leader, also offered to halve the pay for lawmakers. The reform committee said electing more proportional legislators was necessary to mitigate rampant regionalism and lower entry barriers for smaller political parties under the ``small constituency’’ system where only one lawmaker is elected in one constituency.

The opposition party’s proposal comes amid inter-party negotiations to change the electoral constituency map in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s ruling last October. At the time, the top court ruled the current map unconstitutional, saying the ratio of the most populous electoral district to the least populous constituency must be lower than two to one, compared with three to one now.

The NPAD appears to have made such a proposal as an option to comply with the court’s ruling, and the proposal is not without validity. First and foremost, it is necessary to increase the number of proportional representatives to break down the established structure of the major parties based on regional rivalry and help speed up the emergence of new political forces, and most political scientists support this idea. This could mitigate our fierce bipartisan confrontation.

The National Election Commission submitted a similar proposal in February, although the election watchdog offered to cut the number of directly elected legislators as a way to raise the quota for proportional representatives.

Even so, it is doubtful if now is the time for talking about the proper number of lawmakers. With confidence in politicians hitting rock bottom, we wonder if people will tolerate politicians’ brazen attempt to protect their vested interests without any self-reflection and change.

Moreover, the dire state of Korean politics has not been caused by the sheer number of sitting parliamentarians. Rather, there are rising calls for reducing their numbers sharply or even abolishing the National Assembly.

Opposition lawmakers’ offer to cut their pay in half is also unrealistic. Given that they have discarded their election promises to dismantle their privileges, it is very obvious that they would restore their salaries soon after the number of legislators is raised.

We advise the NPAD’s reform panel to stop seeking to raise the number of lawmakers, which has nothing to do with reform, but embark on badly needed innovations.