Simultaneous Local Election and Constitutional Amendment Faces Collapse: Will Government and Ruling Camp Push Ahead Alone?

The Financial News – Plans to hold a constitutional amendment vote simultaneously with the June local elections are on the verge of collapse. The People Power Party (PPP) has remained silent even on the 17th, the deadline set by Speaker of the National Assembly Woo Won-shik for forming the Special Committee on Constitutional Amendment of the National Assembly, calculated backward from the last possible date for a simultaneous vote. As a result, some observers say the government and ruling camp may table their own amendment bill and move ahead without full agreement.
Han Byung-do, parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), told reporters immediately after meeting Speaker Woo that "nothing has been decided yet regarding the special committee on constitutional amendment, and since nothing was done by today, it seems the Speaker will proceed with the procedures." His remarks are being read as a signal that Speaker Woo and the DPK are prepared to press ahead even without the PPP on board.
The PPP had already expressed its opposition shortly after Speaker Woo proposed holding the constitutional amendment vote together with the local elections. The party has argued that the National Assembly should focus on livelihood issues and discuss constitutional reform only after the local elections. Given that the PPP publicly rejected the idea despite Woo’s individual efforts to persuade them, it now appears difficult to move the negotiations forward.
The DPK, by contrast, says it agrees on the need for constitutional reform and has completed its preparations. Geumju Moon, the party’s parliamentary spokesperson, told reporters after a DPK floor strategy meeting that "the special committee on constitutional amendment is being driven primarily by Speaker Woo, and while the Democratic Party of Korea is fully prepared, we are trying to keep pace because the PPP’s participation is necessary."
Speaker Woo’s side intends to proceed with steps such as forming the special committee and introducing an amendment bill even if the PPP does not take a more flexible stance. With President Lee Jae Myung on the same day pledging to review constitutional reform at the government level, momentum has shifted toward pushing the process under the broader ruling camp’s leadership while continuing efforts to win over the PPP. In concrete terms, the DPK alone can meet the requirement that more than half of all sitting lawmakers sponsor an amendment bill, and President Lee himself is also empowered to submit a constitutional amendment proposal.
The drive by the government and ruling camp to keep the amendment effort alive is backed by the current balance of power in the National Assembly, where the governing bloc holds a large majority and the opposition is smaller. With 296 sitting lawmakers, the quorum for passing a constitutional amendment is 198 votes, while the broader ruling camp controls 190 seats. If just eight lawmakers from conservative parties such as the PPP and the Reform Party (RP) cooperate, the amendment could be approved.
During the Moon Jae-in administration, both the president and the then-ruling party also submitted their own constitutional amendment bills. At that time, however, the Democratic Party of Korea did not even hold a simple majority, so the attempt was easily blocked by opposition parties. Now, by contrast, the current ruling camp could succeed if it manages to persuade only a portion of the conservative opposition.
Speaker Woo has previously set April 7 as the last possible date to introduce an amendment bill, based on a backward calculation from the period in which a simultaneous vote with the local elections would still be feasible. Attention is now focused on whether the DPK or President Lee will put forward their own amendment bill before then and seek to attract defections from the PPP.

uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yoon-ho Reporter