By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

Opposition parties joined forces at a full session of the National Assembly on Friday to pass a long-delayed bill to increase the number of regional representatives from 227 to 242.

However, the lawmakers have not decided on whether or not to expand proportionally selected lawmakers, which number 46 at present.

The bill was approved with 135 in favor, 40 opposed and 18 abstentions.

The pro-government Uri Party also placed their own bill on the agenda to maintain the current 227 regional representative system but was voted down.

It had been expected that the bill, supported by the Grand National Party (GNP) and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), would be passed easily, as the two parties combine to control more than two-thirds of the seats.

With passage of the bill, a special committee of the Assembly got the green light to begin work to draw up the new voting districts.

The total number of the seats in the next Assembly, however, is still undecided because the bill didn’t cover the total number of lawmakers that will be chosen through the proportional representation system.

The unicameral legislature is currently composed of 227 directly elected regional representatives and 46 representatives who are given seats in proportion to the total number of votes each party receives.

The pro-government party and the opposition camp will once again lock horns over these seats before the legislature enters a full session on March 2.

Detractors have been critical of lawmakers who work only for partisan interests, regarding the ratio of proportional representatives to regional ones, delaying passage of the much-touted political reform bill.

The Uri Party hoped to raise the number of these uncontested seats, which have usually been given to political newcomers, in a way to renovate the political system. The conservative opposition parties, meanwhile, dislike it and want only minimal increases.

Election authorities called for early passage of the new regulations, saying that the upcoming elections might have to be held under the current regulations if the Assembly doesn’t move quickly. The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the existing regulations violate the nation’s basic laws.

The rival parties have also been at odds over the voting age. The GNP and the United Liberal Democrats want to maintain the status quo, while the Uri Party and MDP have both been pushing to lower the age from 20 to 19. That would enfranchise 800,000 potential voters and boost young people’s participation in the political process, they say.

im@koreatimes.co.kr