National Assembly (Menghe)
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Menghe 대멩 사회주의 궁화국 국민 의회 大孟社會主義共和國國民議會 Dae Meng Sahoejuyi Gonghwaguk Gukmin Yihoe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | none |
| History | |
| Founded | August 1, 1989 |
| Preceded by | House of People's Representatives |
| Leadership | |
Speaker | Ri Hyo-jin, MSP since 25 May 2009 |
Deputy Speaker | Byŏn Mun-su, MSP since 25 May 2009 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 278 |
 | |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 5 years |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post in single-seat districts | |
First election | 14 July 1989 |
Last election | 14 July 2019 |
Next election | 14 July 2024 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| National Assembly Building, Donggyŏng | |
The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Menghe (Menghean Sinmun: 대멩 사회주의 궁화국 국민 의회, Menghean Gomun: 大孟社會主義共和國國民議會, tr. Dae Meng Sahoejuyi Gonghwaguk Gukmin Yihoe), often abbreviated as National Assembly (국회 / 國會, Gukhoe) is the unicameral legislative body of the Socialist Republic of Menghe. It convenes at the National Assembly Building in Donggyŏng. The 278 delegates to the National Assembly are elected on a First-past-the-post basis in single-member districts and serve five-year terms with no term limits.
Delegates to the National Assembly are subject to direct election among the populace, and all citizens over the Standard age of 19 are able to vote. Only candidates from the three state-approved parties can run for the National Assembly, and the Directorate for Elections manipulates the nomination process to guarantee the Menghean Socialist Party a majority. Since the early 2000s the two minor parties have gained more prominence in the National Assembly, and elections have become more competitive, but outside candidates are still barred from running.
History
Under the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe, the country's legislature was the 587-member Congress of People's Representatives, which convened once every two years to discuss policy. In between sessions, power lay with the Presidium of the People's Representatives, a 154-member body elected by the Congress to oversee policy in the interim. Delegates to the Congress of People's Representatives were indirectly elected by provincial assemblies, which in turn were indirectly elected by county-level assemblies. The entire process was closely controlled by the Menghe People's Communist Party, which held at least 90% of all seats throughout the 1964-1987 period.
After the Decembrist Revolution, the new military leadership permanently dissolved the Congress of People's Representatives. In its place, they administered the country through the Interim Council for National Restoration and a range of military officials. The new Menghean constitution promulgated on May 25th, 1988 established a new legislative body, the National Assembly, to replace the Congress of People's Representatives.
The First Assembly was composed of 200 members, all of whom were directly appointed by the outgoing Interim Council. This was intended as a temporary measure to fill the assembly until the government could organize new elections, or more specifically until the newly formed Menghean Socialist Party could build up sufficient popularity and momentum.
Popular elections were held on March 14th, 1989, and the Second Assembly began its first session on May 25th, the second anniversary of the constitution's promulgation. In the Second and Third Assemblies, 200 seats were filled by election, and an additional 78 were filled by appointment - 22 by the Supreme Council, 35 by the Army, 18 by the Navy, and 3 by the Air Force.
In 1998, after a decision made at the turbulent Third Party Congress, the National Assembly amended the constitution to allow all legislators to be elected directly; the special representative role filled by appointment would be shifted over to the newly formed NSCC. In accordance with this decision, the country's electoral districts were redrawn to increase the total to 278.
Originally, the National Assembly met in the hall used by the smaller Standing Committee of the House of People's Representatives, which was expanded with more desks to fit all 278 members. Work on a new building began in 1993, and was completed in 1996. The new site is one block south of Heroes' Square and the Donggwangsan palace, within the old city section of Donggyŏng. In addition to the main assembly hall, it also contains a number of smaller conference rooms, a press and visitor balcony, and side booths for simultaneous interpretation staff.
Role and functions
In Menghe's unicameral system, the National Assembly is the sole house of the legislature. Most bills are conceived within the Supreme Council or its composite ministries, but the National Assembly is tasked with fleshing them out more completely, either through group debate or work in individual committees. This process increasingly involves a level of objective debate between delegates, but only within the overall discursive limits set by the ruling party.
Other major functions assigned to the National Assembly under Menghe's 1988 constitution include the following:
- Electing the Chairman, First Deputy Chairman, and two other Deputy Chairmen of the Supreme Council;
- Approving the appointment of Ministers, Provincial governors, and Ambassadors;
- Electing the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly;
- Approving the annual budget;
- Ratifying treaties with foreign countries, including the Septentrion League;
- Amending the constitution (requires a 2/3 majority)
Elections
Legislative elections in Menghe are held every five years. The election itself takes place in the third week of March, and legislators are sworn in on May 25th, otherwise known as National Day. All citizens above the Standard age of 19 are able to vote. In order to run for office, legislators must be at least 30 years old, also reckoned by Standard Age, and must have lived in Menghe for at least 25 years. The last legislative election took place in 2014, and the next one is scheduled for 2019.
Legislators are subject to direct election in single-seat districts, and the winner is decided on a first-past-the-post basis. The nomination process is controlled by the Directorate for Elections in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which requires that all nominees register with one of Menghe's three legally recognized political parties and subsequently narrows down the list of nominees from there. Write-in candidates are not recognized, and ballots marked with names not listed are counted as invalid.
During the 1990s, it was common for the New Communist Party and Social-Democratic Party to endorse the Socialist Party candidate, or vice versa in a select number of districts, so that each ballot only carried one name. In subsequent elections the Directorate for Elections loosened some of its restrictions, and in 1997 the National Assembly passed a law with Supreme Council approval mandating that all National Assembly districts run at least two candidates. It did not, however, mandate that these candidates come from different parties, and in subsequent elections the Directorate for Elections has ensured that the Menghean Socialist Party will win at least two-thirds of all districts.
Structure
Unlike legislative bodies in certain other Socialist countries in Septentrion, the National Assembly does not elect a separate presidium to perform its regular duties while it is not in session. Instead, the full 278-member body convenes on a regular basis throughout the year, allowing long-term debate and a more thorough drafting of laws.
Leadership
On the same day they take their oaths of office, legislators also elect a Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the National Assembly. These individuals hold the post for the remainder of that Assembly, and are subject to a two-term limit. The National Assembly also has the power to recall a Speaker and elect a new one. In practice, each Speaker elected after 1989 has served two consecutive terms without recall. The first three Speakers, Sŏ Do-wŏn, Ha Gi-ung, and Jŏng Myŏng-hyi, were selected ahead of time by the Supreme Council and ran unopposed, but in 2009 the National Assembly allowed a competitive internal election. All three nominees had already served two terms in the National Assembly, and were announced as candidates after the popular election results came in, giving elected legislators adequate time to weigh their options.
Relation to the Supreme Council
The National Assembly also votes on the upper membership of the Supreme Council, i.e. all members except the Ministers and the Chairman's Chief of Staff. These decisions are effectively laid out ahead of time by the Party leadership, and the "vote" itself consists of formally approving names presented to the assembly. Choe Sŭng-min has been subject to re-election as Chairman three times (1989, 1999, and 2009), and ran unopposed on all occasions. By custom, however, one of his Deputy Chairmen is simultaneously the Speaker of the National Assembly, and in 2009 Ri Hyo-jin was nominated and elected Deputy Chairman even though his victory as Speaker had been uncertain.
Committees
In order to handle specific areas of legislation in greater detail, the National Assembly contains a number of specialized committees organized around certain topics. Some committees are permanent, while others are formed on an ad-hoc basis to deal with a specific issue and later dissolved. All bills drafted by these committees are subject to vote in front of the entire body.
Power
Under Menghe's single-party system, the National Assembly has relatively little independent authority, and does not serve as a meaningful restraint on the power of the Supreme Council and its Chairman. In its 30-year history, it has never voted down a bill or other proposal backed by the support of the Supreme Council, though on a few occasions it has turned down measures promoted by legislators themselves. Constraints on the election and nomination process also ensure that at least two-thirds of all legislators are members of the Menghean Socialist Party, and even delegates from the competing parties face unofficial constraints on what they can and can't propose.
Nevertheless, from the Sixth Assembly onward, National Assemblies have been characterized by a steadily increasing degree of debate and contention. The minor coalition parties have also enjoyed more freedom to propose bills and set their own agendas. Signs of this trend were already visible in the late Fourth Assembly and the early Fifth, but the emergency move to disband the New Menghe Communist Party in 2005 led to a tightening of single-party control.
United Front for National Restoration
The 1988 constitution recognizes the Menghean Socialist Party as Menghe's "ultimate guiding authority," and grants it a privileged place in national decision-making. Within the National Assembly, the MSP governs with two coalition parties, the Menghean Social-Democratic Party (대멩 사회 민주당 / 大孟社會民主黨, Dae Meng Sahoe-minjudang) and the Menghean Workers' Party (대멩 로동당 / 大孟勞動黨, Dae Meng Rodongdang). Together, all three form the United Front for National Restoration (국가 유신 통일 전선 / 國家維新統一戰線, Gukka Yusin Tongil Jŏnsŏn), sometimes abbreviated as United Front.
The United Front is administered through a special liaison office within the Menghean Socialist Party, which oversees the other parties' platforms to ensure that they do not depart too radically from the MSP's own agenda. As such, the MSDP and MWP are not fully independent political parties, but rather serve as semi-autonomous wings of the MSP.
This relationship was demonstrated twice for the left-wing flank party, which was disbanded and reformed twice in its history. Established to appeal to former moderates within the Menghe People's Communist Party, it originally ran as the New Menghe Communist Party in the Second Assembly, gaining nine seats. Shortly before the 1994 elections, the party leadership was purged due to suspected sympathies with the ousted Ryo Ho-jun regime, and the Party was renamed the Reorganized Communist Party of Menghe. A second crisis came in April 2005, when the Reorganized Communist Party was disbanded on the grounds that its members were sympathetic to Maverican communism; its twenty-nine legislators were removed from their seats, and a special election in June brought in replacements from the MSP. After a thorough investigation and reshuffling of upper personnel, the organization was restored as the Menghe Workers' Party, which currently holds 22 seats in the National Assembly.
Though initially the smaller of the two, the Menghean Social-Democratic party has more recently emerged as a significant competitor with the Menghean Socialist Party, and has built up a substantial following among intellectuals and urban white-collar workers. Even so, it, too, is subject to indirect MSP control, and its General-Secretary has described the MSDP "not as a rival [of the Socialist Party], but as a partner organization which advocates for reform within the system."
List of National Assemblies
| Assembly | Session | Speaker | MSP seats | Notes on legislators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1988-1989 | Sŏ Do-wŏn | 197 (98.5%) | 200 legislators, all appointed by the outgoing Interim Council. |
| 2nd | 1989-1994 | Ha Gi-ung | 262 (94.2%) | 200 elected, plus 78 appointed by the Supreme Council and the Armed Forces. |
| 3rd | 1994-1999 | Ha Gi-ung | 243 (87.4%) | 200 elected, plus 78 appointed by the Supreme Council and the Armed Forces. |
| 4th | 1999-2004 | Jŏng Myŏng-hyi | 234 (84.2%) | 278, all elected (districts redrawn in 1998). |
| 5th | 2004-2009 | Jŏng Myŏng-hyi | 219 (78.8%) | 278, all elected; MSP gained 29 seats in a special election after the RCPM was disbanded. |
| 6th | 2009-2014 | Ri Hyo-jin | 210 (75.5%) | 278, all elected; Menghe Workers' Party added to coalition. |
| 7th | 2014-2019 | Ri Hyo-jin | 189 (67.9%) | 278, all elected. |