Electoral system for April 10 elections to test minor parties
Minor Korean political parties are weighing the pros and cons of the electoral system for the upcoming April 10 general elections, in which parties with more constituency seats will get a smaller number of proportional seats.
The system, introduced in 2019, was designed to encourage greater representation by minor parties at the National Assembly by compensating for imbalances between votes for candidates and votes for parties. But the two dominant parties — the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) — are set to create satellite parties to secure proportional seats as well, testing whether the minor parties can maintain a presence.
In the 2020 elections, the two major parties created their respective satellite entities and had some of their lawmakers leave to do so, only to later incorporate them back again. As a result, the DPK won 20 seats and the United Future Party, a predecessor of the PPP, took 19 seats through the system.
Lee Nak-yon, co-chairman of the Saemirae Party, a new party created between liberal politicians who exited the DPK, wrote on Facebook Monday that the rival parties’ bid to create their satellite parties is “a devastating idea that maximizes the harms of the existing bipartisan political structure and political polarization.”
“By incorporating the third political perspectives into the bipartisan cartel, the bid aims to suppress political diversity and solidify a system of political polarization,” Lee wrote.
The comments came after Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the majority-holding DPK, said Monday that the party will stick to the current semi-mixed member proportional (semi-MMP) system for the April 10 general elections and will create a satellite party only for proportional representation.
The MMP system is about giving a party proportional seats within a certain cap to match its votes with the actual number of seats in the Assembly.
For example, under the MMP rule, if a party wins 10 constituency seats and 10 percent in votes for the party, the party will win 20 proportional seats to match its 10 percent representation in the 300-seat Assembly, or 30 seats. Korea’s current system is called semi-MMP because the rule applies to only 30 out of the total 47 proportional seats at a 50-percent ratio.
Since this results in a smaller number of proportional seats for parties with more constituency seats, the DPK said it will create “a comprehensive proportional representation party” that embraces “all political groups that agree with the cause of making the judgment against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the progress of history.”
The ruling PPP launched an organizing committee for its satellite party last month, saying it has to counter the DPK’s strategy. When the general elections are finished, the satellite parties are anticipated to be merged back into their respective mother parties.
For minor parties, the semi-MMP rule itself gives a greater chance of having their lawmakers in the Assembly through proportional representation, but the rival parties’ satellite party tactic is becoming a major obstacle.
“If the MMP rule serves its purpose as it was designed, it will help improve the proportionality of votes,” said Lee Jun-seok, chairman of the Reform Party, which is a breakaway group of conservative politicians. “However, the satellite party that the DPK chairman spoke of or the PPP’s satellite party plan will end up causing the reverse impact unless other parties create satellite parties.”
Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University, said either the MMP or the semi-MMP rule is advantageous for minor parties in theory, but the rival parties’ satellite party bids may offset the advantages.
“This leaves no option but to seek constituency seats for minor parties,” Shin said. “And this means that necessity will grow for the minor parties to form a single big-tent party to challenge the rival parties’ candidates under a single order on the ballot.”
Korea sets the order on the ballot for parties and candidates based on their seats in the Assembly. The main opposition DPK is No. 1, followed by the PPP and the Justice Party. The Justice Party now has six serving lawmakers.