Rival parties have plates full in April
- 6 years ago
There's just 70 days to go before Koreans head to the polls for local elections in mid-June.
The elections have been largely overshadowed by the rapid developments in terms of North Korea diplomacy and other political affairs at the National Assembly -- but candidates are busy readying their campaigns.
For more, we connect to our political correspondent Kim Min-ji on the phone.
Min-ji, a big name throws his hat into the ring today?
Mark, that's right.
Former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, and now who heads the Bareun Mirae Party's committee for recruiting candidates for local elections,... will announce his bid for Seoul mayor in about 30 minute's time.
It's his second time -- back in 2011,... he announced a bid -- but dropped out of the race expressing support for Park Won-soon -- who is now competing for a third term.
The Seoul mayor post is expected to be hotly contested,... with Park planning to run again and two veteran lawmakers within the ruling Democratic Party of Korea seeking to run.
The ruling party will be holding primaries and a candidate will be finalized sometime in mid-April.
From the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, the candidate will be former two-time governor of Gyeonggi-do Province Kim Moon-soo.
Wow... so quite the field of heavy-hitters already. While the race for Seoul mayor heats up,... preparations continue for the local elections. We know the parties have a full plate of tasks to be getting on with. The April session at the National Assembly has made no progress whatsoever.
You're right. The April session was supposed to kick off on Monday -- but parliament has been at practical standstill with rival parties at odds over key contentious bills.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea hopes to pass a bill establishing an investigative agency to deal exclusively with corruption among high-ranking officials,... while the opposition wants to pass a revision to the broadcasting act... that would guarantee neutrality and fairness at public broadcasters.
Floor leaders of the country's negotiating parties met this morning -- however, they failed to narrow their differences and made no agreement in resuming parliamentary affairs.
Now there are concerns as rival parties have a stack of agenda items to go through in April -- as it's the last working session ahead of the June local elections.
For starters,... they need to reach a deal on amending the Constitution.
With the president already having submitted his, it's been a race against time -- as the ruling party wants to hold a referendum alongside the June local elections.
That means they need to reach consensus by no later than May 4th -- in order to get other legal procedures complete.
And on top of pending bills sitting at parliament,... rival parties also have to deliberate on the government's extra budget bill once it's summited.
It's going to be a tough session as the two biggest opposition parties say they won't cooperate in parliamentary activities
The elections have been largely overshadowed by the rapid developments in terms of North Korea diplomacy and other political affairs at the National Assembly -- but candidates are busy readying their campaigns.
For more, we connect to our political correspondent Kim Min-ji on the phone.
Min-ji, a big name throws his hat into the ring today?
Mark, that's right.
Former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, and now who heads the Bareun Mirae Party's committee for recruiting candidates for local elections,... will announce his bid for Seoul mayor in about 30 minute's time.
It's his second time -- back in 2011,... he announced a bid -- but dropped out of the race expressing support for Park Won-soon -- who is now competing for a third term.
The Seoul mayor post is expected to be hotly contested,... with Park planning to run again and two veteran lawmakers within the ruling Democratic Party of Korea seeking to run.
The ruling party will be holding primaries and a candidate will be finalized sometime in mid-April.
From the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, the candidate will be former two-time governor of Gyeonggi-do Province Kim Moon-soo.
Wow... so quite the field of heavy-hitters already. While the race for Seoul mayor heats up,... preparations continue for the local elections. We know the parties have a full plate of tasks to be getting on with. The April session at the National Assembly has made no progress whatsoever.
You're right. The April session was supposed to kick off on Monday -- but parliament has been at practical standstill with rival parties at odds over key contentious bills.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea hopes to pass a bill establishing an investigative agency to deal exclusively with corruption among high-ranking officials,... while the opposition wants to pass a revision to the broadcasting act... that would guarantee neutrality and fairness at public broadcasters.
Floor leaders of the country's negotiating parties met this morning -- however, they failed to narrow their differences and made no agreement in resuming parliamentary affairs.
Now there are concerns as rival parties have a stack of agenda items to go through in April -- as it's the last working session ahead of the June local elections.
For starters,... they need to reach a deal on amending the Constitution.
With the president already having submitted his, it's been a race against time -- as the ruling party wants to hold a referendum alongside the June local elections.
That means they need to reach consensus by no later than May 4th -- in order to get other legal procedures complete.
And on top of pending bills sitting at parliament,... rival parties also have to deliberate on the government's extra budget bill once it's summited.
It's going to be a tough session as the two biggest opposition parties say they won't cooperate in parliamentary activities