Ruling party lawmakers call for overhaul of by-election system

By Yi Whan-woo

A group of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers Wednesday called for an overhaul of the parliamentary and local by-election voting systems, claiming that elections take place too often.

Rep. Rhee In-je, a member of the party’s Supreme Council, suggested having by-elections once every two years instead of as often as twice a year as stipulated by the Election Law.

“The quadrennial National Assembly and local elections are significant because a new political order can be established depending on their results,” he said during a meeting among the party’s senior legislators. “On the other hand, it’s problematic for rival parties to bet their life and death and compete intensely against each other in small-scale by-elections.”

Rep. Choung Byoung-gug agreed.

“The current by-election system causes legislators to blame each other too often, depending on the result of the elections,” he said.

“Holding by-elections up to twice in a year makes it difficult for lawmakers to concentrate on the essence of politics. The Saenuri Party should actively take steps to revamp the system.”

Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung pointed out that low voter turnout for the by-elections is problematic as well.

“The result of a by-election is heavily dependent on voter turnout, not the approval rating of a candidate,” he said.

“The voting rate of a by-election in general is merely around 25 percent, and we need to go over the current system for improvement.”

The Election Law stipulates that a by-election must take place on the last Wednesday of every April if seats at the National Assembly or local governments are left vacant for a previous six months.

A by-election also will be held on the last Wednesday of every October if legislators or local governors lose their seats between April and September of the same year.

The by-elections on Wednesday took place to replace four National Assembly seats that were previously held by the now-dissolved Unified Progressive Party (UPP) and the Saneuri Party.

The Constitutional Court in December ordered that the leftwing UPP be disbanded because of its pro-North Korean activities.

The UPP was forced to concede its three National Assembly seats at Gwanak-B in Seoul, Jungwon in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and Seogu-B in Gwangju.

The Saenuri Party’s seat at Seogu and Ganghwa-B in Incheon became vacant in March when then-Rep. Ahn Deok-soo received a six-month suspended prison term for violating the Election Law on campaign spending.

Previous by-elections were in October last year, when two seats for local council membership were up for grabs.