At the National Assembly's Special Committee on Political Reform, both the ruling and opposition parties spoke with one voice to point out delays in drawing electoral districts for the June 3 local elections and urged swift discussions. However, there was no concrete conclusion at the meeting. The four opposition parties, including the Rebuilding Korea Party, strongly criticized the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party, saying that key political reform bills were not placed on the agenda.
On the 13th, the National Assembly held a full meeting of the Special Committee on Political Reform and introduced en bloc 28 political relations bills, including amendments to the Political Parties Act, Political Funds Act, and Public Official Election Act. The bills include measures to revive the local party organization abolished in 2004 in the form of a "regional party" or "regional self-governing party," and to refine the requirements for canceling party registrations.
Lawmakers from both parties raised concerns in unison about the delays in drawing electoral districts ahead of the June 3 local elections. Lim Mi-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "This is only the second full meeting, and the subcommittee is not functioning properly," adding, "I do not know what we should tell the candidates working in the field." She went on to criticize, "The special committee on political reform is dealing not only with political party laws but also with electoral districting, yet there is no roadmap at all for when a conclusion will be reached."
Kim Seung-su of the People Power Party also stressed the urgency of the electoral districting issue. Kim said, "The legal deadline for drawing districts is six months before election day, but that has long passed, and only about 80 days remain until election day," adding, "The ruling and opposition party secretaries should quickly reach an agreement and present a deadline for when this will be completed."
The four progressive opposition parties, including the Rebuilding Korea Party, strongly protested, saying that key political reform bills were not placed on the agenda at this meeting. Jeong Chun-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party said, "I came here today with a devastated heart," adding, "The earnest desire for political reform is at risk of running aground before the vested interests of the two major parties."
Jeong said, "Not a single political reform bill demanded by civil society and reform-minded parties—such as adopting medium-sized electoral districts for local councils, expanding proportional representation to 30%, introducing a mixed-member proportional representation system, adopting runoff voting, preventing uncontested elections, and banning simultaneous nominations—was placed on the agenda at this full meeting."
He continued, "Of the 28 bills introduced, 27 are related to reviving local party organizations, and the remaining one changes the requirements for canceling party registrations," adding, "I want to ask whether reviving local party organizations and allowing support committees should be the top priority for discussion at the special committee on political reform right now."
Lawmakers from the four progressive opposition parties—the Rebuilding Korea Party, The Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and The Social Democratic Party of Korea—protested by holding hand placards reading "Democratic Party, make a decision," urging the adoption of medium-sized electoral districts and expanding the number of proportional representation seats, as they addressed the commissioners on the special committee attending the full meeting, and they have continued a tent sit-in in front of the main National Assembly building since the 9th.