선거구제 개편을 위한 헌법적 설계

Abstract

The reorganization of electoral districts is one of the things that are often mentioned when advocating improvements to the electoral system for political development in Korea. Behind this debate is a strong sense of rejection of the current one-seat constituencies. Reorganization of electoral districts should be discussed as a stepping stone for the development of Korean politics, and as a means of strengthening political competition and political control. Multi-member districts are partly the "functional equivalent" of proportional representation electoral system in that they promote the proportionality of elections. The reorganization of electoral districts is an unavoidable alternative because the proportional representation electoral system has not functioned properly in Korea. The most important thing in the introduction of the multi-member districts system are the district magnitude and the delimitation of electoral districts. Since the preferred political party system is a moderate multi-party system, the three-seat constituency size is considered the most preferable. However, one-seat, two-seat or four-seat constituencies may be exceptionally included, because of the difficulties of electoral boundary delimtation that must reflect many criteria such as population size, administrative boundary, regional characteristics such as urban and rural areas. It is necessary to actively consider changing the voting system in relation to the reorganization of electoral districts. The current voting system allows candidates with a few votes to be elected. Therefore, democratic legitimacy for election results may be challenged. There is also a need to strengthen political control by increasing the range of electoral options. As an alternative the limited voting system may be preferred. The reorganization of electoral districts and the reorganization of administrative districts are closely related, but their implementation should be discussed at different times. Due to the difficulties of delimitation, attempts to delay the reorganization of districts can emerge. Therefore, even if multi-member constituencies are introduced, it is conceivable that full-fledged implementation of them will begin after the next general election.