[Editorial] Campaign reform

The National Election Commission has come up with a set of proposals to change the nation’s election culture, which it described as overly restrictive.

The election watchdog says its proposals are geared toward enhancing the freedom of candidates and voters to express their political views.

True, the nation’s election regulations are too rigid. They specify the official campaign period and ban most campaign activities before it.

These restrictions, however, are intended to ensure a level playing field between rich and poor candidates. If these rules are relaxed, election campaigning could become more costly, benefiting candidates with deeper pockets.

The NEC needs to take this into account when it finalizes its reform plan and submits it to the National Assembly in June.

The watchdog proposes in the first place to allow candidates and their supporters to conduct face-to-face or over-the-phone campaigning at all times except on election day.

Currently, such campaign activities are banned before the official election period. But the ban does not apply to online campaigning on the grounds that it does not incur heavy costs.

The proposals also call for allowing a person planning to run for a parliamentary seat to register as a preliminary candidate at any time and engage in such activities as distribution of their business cards before the official election period.

Under the current rules, preliminary candidacy registration starts 120 days before election day.

To enhance voters’ right to know, the NEC proposes to allow them to invite candidates or preliminary candidates to debates or town hall meetings to discuss their policies.

In the same context, the watchdog also plans to allow the press and civic organizations to grade candidates based on an assessment of their campaign pledges.

One notable proposal calls for reforming the current format of TV debates among presidential candidates. Last year, the NEC drew fire by allowing minor leftist party candidate Lee Jung-hee, whose approval ratings stood below 1 percent, to participate in all three rounds of TV debate and stage relentless attacks against a specific candidate.

The proposal suggests excluding candidates with 10 percent or lower support from the second round of debate and only allowing the two top candidates to participate in the third round. This proposal makes sense.

The NEC’s reform package will undoubtedly contribute to making the nation’s election culture more democratic. Yet the watchdog would do well to examine their possible side effects and prepare measures to minimize them. It should not compromise the principle of keeping the playing field level.