Photo : YONHAP News
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik and six political parties, excluding the main opposition People Power Party(PPP), have launched efforts to propose a bill on amending the Constitution in order to hold a constitutional referendum concurrently with the June 3 local elections.
Woo and the floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party, minor Reform Party, Rebuilding Korea Party, Jinbo Party and New Jinbo Party held a news conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday and unveiled a declaration on the promotion of a bipartisan constitutional amendment.
Yong Hye-in, floor leader of the minor Basic Income Party, was unable to attend the event due to a prior commitment but her name was included in the declaration.
The PPP has maintained the position that it is inappropriate to pursue a constitutional amendment ahead of the local elections.
In the declaration, the parties vowed efforts to hold a national referendum on constitutional amendments concurrently with the June 3 local elections.
Given that constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly, the six political parties will collect signatures from their lawmakers until Friday in a bid to propose the bill on Monday.
In order to hold a national referendum on election day, a bill on amending the Constitution must be approved by no later than May 10.