[Actually] Heo Kyung-young's 'TV discussion', I carefully looked into it

Recently, National Revolutionary Party presidential candidate Huh Kyung-young wrote this on his social media account.

If the poll's approval rating exceeds 5%, it means that you are eligible to participate in the broadcast debate.

Citing opinion polls that his approval rating was close to 5%, he argued as above.

We received a request from our fact-checking team to fact-check whether Candidate Heo Kyung-young's statements are true.

In conclusion, Candidate Huh's words are 'fact'.

Although the condition of 'average of the polls conducted in the month immediately preceding the election period' depends on the condition, it is clearly stated in the Public Official Election Act.

However, the regulations related to the qualification to participate in the broadcast debate have a lot to be explained in detail.

The history of the past is also past.

Rather than judging whether it's true or not, I'm going to do an 'in-depth' fact check because I think it will be of some help to viewers in the election.

Who is eligible to participate in the broadcast debate?

First, let's look at the eligibility criteria for the presidential election candidates to participate in the broadcast debate under the Public Official Election Act.

The Public Official Election Act sets the standards for participation in broadcast debates during the election campaign period.

The presidential election campaign, which will be held on March 9 next year, runs from February 15 to March 8 next year.

Article 82-2 (Interviews and Debate

Sessions

Supervised by Election Broadcasting Debate Committee)

…

It is held for candidates who fall under any of the following subparagraphs:

1. Presidential Election

a.

A candidate recommended by a political party with 5 or more members in the National Assembly

.

B. A candidate recommended by a political party that has obtained 3/100 or more of the total number of valid votes in the country in the immediately preceding presidential election, proportional representative National Assembly election, proportional representative City/Do member election, or proportional representative autonomous Gu/Si/Gun member election

;

Candidates with an average approval rating of 5/100 or more, based on the average of the results of public opinion polls conducted and announced by media organizations between 30 days before the start date of the election period and the day before the start date of the election period, as prescribed by the rules of the National Election Commission.

In other words, candidates from a party that has 5 or more seats in the National Assembly, 3% or more votes in the last presidential election, or 3% or more in the last general election proportional representation election and local election proportional representation election can participate.

In addition, this includes cases where the poll averages above 5% in the month prior to the start of the campaign period.

Candidate Heo Kyung-young is appealing for support by referring to the '5% poll' rule.

Incidentally, not meeting this condition does not mean that you will not be able to attend the broadcast discussion.

If you do not meet this condition, you may attend the so-called 'small candidate discussion forum'.

The above rules refer to major candidate debates with a high degree of attention.

Then, let's take a closer look at each one.

First, as of December 8, as of today, it is a party with 5 or more seats in the National Assembly.

Candidates from these three parties are eligible to participate in televised debates during the campaign period.

Candidates Jae-myung Lee of the Democratic Party of Korea, Seok-yeol Yoon of the People's Power, and Sang-jeong Shim of the Justice Party are eligible to attend.

Next are the parties that received 3% or more of the votes in the last presidential, general, and branch elections.

However, if you look at the table above, many political parties have disappeared and many have changed their names.

This is likely due to the frequent reorganization of the political system.

What to do in this case?

We apply mutatis mutandis to the 'reasonable' provisions of the political party law.

Article 19 (

Party) of the Political Party

Joining means taking over the rights and obligations of the previous party.

In other words, the Bareunmirae Party, which obtained 7.81% of the votes from the proportional representative city and provincial legislators in the last local election, is now lost to history, but at that time it became a 'Minsaeng Party' through 'Hapdang' with the Democratic Peace Party. The party will inherit the 'rights' of participation in the broadcast debate.

In the end, if the Minsaeng Party 'candidates for the presidency', it can participate in the debate because its predecessor, the Bareunmirae Party, met the criteria.

The reasonableness provisions of the party law are useful in many ways.

Succession rules also apply when a political party receives a subsidized current or election subsidy.

The Minsaeng Party received a current subsidy of 230 million won last month, despite being an out-of-house party.

In the end, assuming there will be no political reorganization in the future, simply put, the party candidates that can participate in the presidential debate broadcast are the Democratic Party, the People's Power, the Justice Party, the People's Power, the Open Democrats, and the Minsaeng Party.

This adds up to candidates who averaged over 5% in polls in the month preceding the campaign.

However, it is necessary to take into account the fact that there is a movement for political reorganization, such as discussing a merger between the Democratic Party of Korea and the Open Democratic Party again this time.

Candidate debate during the 2017 presidential election

The strife of the '5% poll' rule

The amendment to the March 2004 'Public Office Election and Fraudulent Election Prevention Act' stipulated the '5% public opinion poll' regulation in the qualifications to participate in the presidential candidate debate. This is the current 'Public Election Act'.

At that time, the Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly included the eligibility criteria for participation in broadcast debates in Article 82-2, and there was no other noise. It was at the time when the discussion about the impeachment of former President Roh Moo-hyun began in earnest, and since it was a general election, there would have been no time to worry about it because it was noisy with the issue of demarcation of constituencies. So, the amendment passed the plenary session.

However, the '5% public opinion poll' rule has been put on trial by the Constitutional Court since the first presidential election since the revision. Four months before the 17th presidential election, a candidate filed a constitutional complaint, claiming that this provision violates the constitutional right to equality.

The Constitutional Court decided to dismiss it.

As we can see, if there are too many debaters due to not restricting the qualifications for invitations to broadcast debates, actual discussions and workshops do not take place due to time constraints, making it difficult to verify the policies of the candidates. In light of the fact that it must be considered that they are interested in the candidates who obtained It will be said that there are reasonable reasons to justify the discrimination.

Therefore, it is difficult to see that the provisions of this case infringe on the equal rights of the applicants or the equal opportunity of the election campaign.

- Constitutional Court 2009. 3. 26. Sentence 2007 Heonma 1327

The '5% poll' rule became controversial in the next 18th presidential election.

If the above constitutional complaint was to the effect that "the threshold of 5% in the opinion polls is too high," the movement to amend the law after the 18th presidential election raised the opposite issue: "the threshold of 5% is too low."

It was the aftermath of the debate between the then-Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye and the United Progressive Party candidate Lee Jeong-hee, who are still talked about today.

During the 18th presidential election, a broadcast debate between Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye and United Progressive Party candidate Lee Jeong-hee

At the time, the ruling Saenuri Party, which was the ruling party and the majority party, was lucky, saying, "Lee's approval rating is about 1%, but the candidate's space is excessively wide."

At that time, Rep. Hwang Young-cheol had "a 30-day average approval rating of 15% or more before the start of the election period," and at that time, Assemblyman Yoon Sang-hyun had "a 60-day average support rating of 15% or more before the start of the election period."

The Saenuri Party promoted it extensively with the label 'Lee Jeong-hee Prevention Act'.

However, the National Assembly Administrative Safety Committee gave a negative opinion on the proposal in the review report.

Regarding the above amendments, restricting the participation of small political parties representing minority opinions infringes on voters' right to know. Contrary to this, there are opinions that it is not appropriate in the reality of Korea where a two-party system has not been established.

- National Assembly Administrative Safety Committee, <Partial Revision of Public Official Election Act and related petition review report>, 2013. 2.

At that time, the Saenuri Party did not continue meaningful discussions as candidate Park Geun-hye was elected.

So, the '5% poll' rule has been maintained until now.

Equal Opportunity vs. Democracy's Gatekeeper

While the above controversy may seem like a detailed qualification issue for entering a broadcast debate, it is in fact implied by the classic clash of two political values.

'Equal opportunities for political participation' and 'the gatekeeper function of democracy'.

Elections in democratic communities must leave the way open for all. We are well aware that the broadcast debate we watch every election is always filled with 'oldboy'. It's hard to see a fresh face. It would be common sense in democracy that everyone should be given an equal opportunity. Naturally, during the election season, it is argued that the eligibility criteria for polls should be lowered. Mostly small parties make this claim.

On the other hand, at the same time, the electoral debate must also play a role in preventing the entry of unqualified candidates. It also contributes to democracy to stop demagogues with no political experience and extremists who do not gain public sympathy. Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Zivlatt's book How Democracy Falls also points to the fact that the crisis of democracy in our time is weakening the gatekeeper function. The '5% poll' is close to the standard that legally specifies the role of a gatekeeper through figures.

Controversy over whether the '5% opinion poll' standard is a reasonable number is currently ongoing.

After the 2004 law amendment, law enforcement agencies have been asked to maintain entry restrictions, saying "5% is not a high level", and the legislative body has advised that "5% is not a low level" and should not impede entry into politics.

The media, too, have different viewpoints.

This is not a progressive issue, nor a conservative issue.

Clearly, we are still in the process of finding that balance, and we still need a lot of discussion.

After all, elections are everything in democracy.

Even these detailed regulations hold important values ​​in the discourse of democracy.

I want to think about it with the viewers.

Our fact-finding team continues to fact-check the election during this presidential election.

I hope the viewers will do the same.

You can request a fact check verification by typing SBS facts on the Internet.

If you request it, we will fact-check it to the best of our ability.

<Reference>

Huh Kyung-young Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/unhky)

Public Official Election Act Article 82-2, Political

Party

Act Article 19

Election Commission <19th Presidential Election Overview>

Election Commission <21st National Assembly Member Election Overview>

Election Management Committee <The 7th National Simultaneous Local Election Overview>

Constitutional Court Sentencing on March 26, 2009 2007 Heonma 1327

National Assembly Administrative Safety Committee, <Review report on partial amendments to the Public Official Election Act and related petitions>, February 2013