New Reform Party institutionalizes ban on party leaders running for proportional representation seats and forming satellite parties

[Financial News] The New Reform Party's emergency committee has approved a measure banning current and former party leaders from running for proportional representation seats and forming satellite parties. By codifying the measure in party rules, the party appears to be accelerating reforms under Lee Gi-in. As a result, not only Rep. Lee Jun-seok, the former party leader, but also Chun Ha-ram, a proportional representation lawmaker and floor leader, and Lee Ju-young, a proportional representation lawmaker and former policy committee chair, are now all but certain under the rules to run in district constituencies in the next general election.
At an emergency committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th, committee chair Lee Gi-in said, "Among the reform measures announced earlier, we are approving the bans on former party leaders running for proportional representation seats and on forming satellite parties."
Lee said, "We will have neither the satellite-party gimmicks of parties such as the Together Citizens Party, People Future Party, Basic Income Party, Social Democratic Party and Progressive Party, nor proportional representation seats for party leaders," adding, "If we are to bring in new talent, those who arrived first must make room."
The committee chair added, "I will uphold this principle even when elections draw near and everyone's interests are at stake. I will not ask for an exception for myself," and said, "We will uphold the principles we agreed on together, build trust in local communities and have our performance judged in the next election."
There were also calls to discuss electoral reform, including the introduction of multi-member constituencies, to move beyond the two-party system. Emergency committee member Im Ju-young stressed, "As the harms of the two-party monopoly and regionalism become entrenched, Korean politics is divided from the center to the local level and cannot move forward even one step. We must introduce multi-member constituencies across the board in the upcoming National Assembly election and open the way for diverse political forces to participate."
Im added, "We must amend the Political Parties Act, which contains many unreasonable regulations. We must establish an institutional foundation for party activities that enables members to realize the party's vision and values through substantive political engagement, moving beyond the level of a social club," and said, "We can no longer allow politics in the Republic of Korea to remain an arena rife with stagnation, division and denunciation amid a deepening two-party monopoly."
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter