DP Proposes Constitutional Amendment to Dissolve NEC; PPP Demands Special Counsel Probe First

[Anchor]

The Democratic Party of Korea has put forward a reform plan that involves dissolving the National Election Commission (NEC) through a constitutional amendment. The party proposed a complete overhaul of the organization's name and composition, as well as subjecting it to external audits. The People Power Party countered, arguing that a special counsel investigation must take priority over constitutional reform.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The core of the reform plan unveiled today, June 26, by the Democratic Party's Task Force on NEC Reform is the dissolution and reconstruction of the NEC.

[Song Ki-hun / Head of the Democratic Party's NEC Reform TF: We will dissolve the National Election Commission through a constitutional amendment.]

The current Constitution stipulates that an NEC shall be established for election management, and in February of last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Board of Audit and Inspection cannot conduct job audits of the NEC, which is an independent constitutional institution.

The Democratic Party's task force intends to amend the Constitution to change the name of the NEC and the method of appointing its members, and to make the NEC subject to audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection.

They also presented plans to amend laws such as the National Election Commission Act to change the position of the NEC Chairperson from non-standing to standing, increase the number of standing commissioners from one to three, and require the NEC Secretary-General to undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing.

Given the current distribution of seats in the National Assembly, the consent of the People Power Party is effectively required for a constitutional amendment. The People Power Party drew a line, stating that a special counsel investigation is the priority and that the Democratic Party's proposal for constitutional reform is an attempt to divert public attention.

[Seo Beom-soo / People Power Party Lawmaker (Ranking member of the special committee on the ballot paper incident): What the public is asking is why the ballot paper incident occurred and who will take responsibility for it... Who doesn't know the intention to cover it up and move on?]

The ruling and opposition parties also differ on the NEC labor union's proposal to gradually abolish early voting and extend the main voting period to two days.

While about 20 People Power Party lawmakers have jointly proposed an amendment to the Public Official Election Act to abolish early voting, citing excessive administrative costs and other negative side effects, the prevailing view within the Democratic Party is that abolishing early voting, which was introduced to boost voter turnout, would be a regression.

(Reported by Oh Young-chun and Kim Yong-woo | Video edited by Park Sun-soo | Graphics by Choi Jin-hoe)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.