On Sunday Uri Party chairman Moon Hee Sang announced he would recommend to president Roh Moo Hyun the idea of giving the opposition the authority to name prime ministers and transfer power to the degree of something like a cabinet system of government, under the condition that there is agreement on changing the country's election system in a way that would reduce regional confrontation. Moon's comments appear to be an attempt to implement Roh's ideas about a coalition government, a "grand coalition government" consisting of Uri and the largest opposition party in the National Assembly, the Grand National Party (GNP), should it agree to changes in the election system. Ahead of the general election in April 2004 Roh proposed to the GNP that there be double election districts in urban and rural areas, and that the party with the most seats after the election gets to name prime ministers given more authority.
There is no knowing why Roh and Uri are continuing to talk about a coalition at this particular moment, but their ideas about linking the way the country does elections to transferring power basically lack persuasiveness. The constitution does contain elements of a cabinet system, but the basic framework stipulates three branches of government with a president at the center. The prime minister is to assist the president and run the government on the president's orders. Delegating some of the president's authority to the prime minister is to be done not through negotiations between different political factions but according to the provisions and spirit of the constitution. In the last presidential election the people chose a president with the authority vested in him by the constitution, including the authority to name a prime minister, not a "president belonging to a cabinet system of government." The president's authority must not be part of a political transaction.
It would of course be worth considering changes to the election system. The current system of "small electoral districts" has various problems, including that of "equivalency." The ruling and opposition camps should leave the politicizing behind and join in constructive negotiations.
The Hankyoreh, 11 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
Why Link Electoral System with \'Power Transfer\'? |
