The ruling party drafted a proposal to cut equal number of electoral districts in the rival provinces of Gyeongsang and Jeolla to resolve deadlocked negotiation over a new constituency map, the JoongAng Ilbo learned Sunday. The JoongAng Ilbo obtained an internal document from the ruling Saenuri Party on Sunday and confirmed the proposal with a senior party official. According to the plan, the Saenuri Party will propose to the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) that Gyeongsang, the Saenuri stronghold, and Jeolla, an NPAD stronghold, will each lose two seats. Eight seats in Gwangju Metropolitan City, an NPAD stronghold, will remain unchanged.
One seat from North Jeolla and another from South Jeolla will be cut, the Saenuri proposal showed. While South Gyeongsang will maintain its current number of seats, North Gyeongsang will lose two seats, according to the proposal.
The Saenuri proposal showed that the number of proportional representatives will be reduced by seven, while the number of electoral districts will be increased from 246 to 253.
The NPAD has insisted on no change to the number of proportional representatives in the National Assembly. As of now, 54 out of the 300-seat legislature are proportional representatives.
Full Article: Saenuri offers a concession on electoral map-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily.
