National Assembly votes narrowly to reject motion for DP chair’s arrest

Feb 28, 2023, 03:37 pm

		0
National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo declares the rejection of a motion to arrest Rep. Lee Jae-myung, head of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul on Feb. 27, 2023./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Ha-eun

The National Assembly rejected Monday the arrest motion of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, head of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), sought by the prosecution over corruption charges involving Daejang-dong and Wirye land development and sponsorship of Seongnam FC.

The motion was voted down with 138 opposing votes, 139 supporting votes, 9 abstentions and 11 deemed invalid.

It marked the first time in the constitutional history that an arrest warrant was sought for the head of the country’s largest opposition party. This is the fifth time since the 21st National Assembly that an arrest motion has been voted on, following former DP lawmaker Chung Jung-soon, former independent lawmaker Lee Sang-jik, People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Chung Chan-min, and DP lawmaker Noh Woong-rae.

By law, the arrest motion is approved by a majority of the incumbent lawmakers, with a majority of the members being present. But Lee’s arrest motion failed to cross the threshold of the Assembly as supporting votes fell short of 149 votes. It seems that the ruling PPP and minor opposition Justice Party cast their votes in favor of the motion while most of the DP lawmakers voted to reject the request.

However, considering that the number of opposing votes fell far short of the 169 seats held by the main opposition party, it seems that some DP lawmakers cast their votes for approval, invalidation, or abstention. Previously, the DP said they confirmed the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant and the government’s submission of the motion were unfair, leaving lawmakers to vote without deciding on the party’s opinion.

During the counting process, the counting had been temporarily suspended due to conflicting interpretations by the ruling and opposition commissioners over the marking of some ballots in the process of classifying ballots.

In response, Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said, “We found it difficult to determine whether the two controversial votes were invalid or not.” After listening to the opinions of some employees of the Election Commission, Kim announced the voting results by judging one vote as invalid and another as a dissenting vote.

The parliament’s rejection of the motion will lead to the automatic dismissal of the prosecution’s arrest warrant request against the DP leader.

Ahead of the voting, Lee once again denied any wrongdoing, saying, “The move to arrest the leader of the largest opposition party is a clear threat to democracy. This day will go down in history as the day the rule of law has fallen.”

#Lee Jae-myung #vote #motion #arrest