With the June 4 local elections still about three months away, rival political parties are already gripped by election fever. They are making all-out efforts to position themselves for the coming electoral battle, putting other important matters on the back burner.

The main opposition Democratic Party is engrossed in creating a unified coalition party with an opposition group led by Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo. The party is desperate to merge with Ahn’s soon-to-be-created New Political Vision Party because it stands little chance of winning the elections if it does not.

DP leaders are upbeat as the approval rating of the planned unified party is much higher than the sum of its own and that of Ahn’s group. A poll taken after the two sides announced a merger agreement on March 2 put the envisioned party’s rating at 35.9 percent against the ruling Saenuri Party’s 40.3 percent.

The poll outcome was encouraging to the opposition groups in light of their poor ratings before the announcement. In a poll conducted on Feb. 20-21, the DP earned 11.1 percent and Ahn’s group 13.9 percent, while the Saenuri Party was way ahead of them with 43 percent.

The planned coalition party’s strong showing raised a red flag for the ruling party, prompting it to make hectic efforts to counter the rivals’ unexpected move. The party increased pressure on its bigwigs to compete for nomination to arouse public interest and boost its chances in the elections.

So there was a flurry of activity last week as some of the party’s big names threw their hats into the ring. They included Rep. Nam Kyung-pil, a five-term lawmaker who announced his bid to run for governor of Gyeonggi Province. He originally wanted to become the party’s floor leader but was pressured into changing his mind by the party’s leadership.

Another political heavyweight seeking the party’s nomination is Yoo Jeong-bok, who resigned as minister of security and home affairs on March 5 to run for mayor in Incheon. Yoo’s participation illustrates how seriously the ruling party is taking the upcoming elections. It pressured him into giving up the ministerial job to run for the mayoral post.

To be sure, the June elections are important, as they represent the first mid-term confidence vote on President Park Geun-hye. Thus far, Park has had difficulty implementing her campaign promises due to the recalcitrant main opposition party. She could find it more difficult should the unified opposition party win the day.

So the Saenuri Party must win the battle by hook or crook if it wants to ensure that Park’s reform programs stay on course.

The DP is probably more desperate to win. Given its successive defeats in major recent elections, including the 2012 general election and presidential election, the June elections are a make or break battle for the party.

To see how desperate the party is, one only needs to remember that it agreed to merge with Ahn’s group on a 50:50 basis, although it has 126 lawmakers against a mere two of its coalition partner.

For both the Saenuri and the DP, the local elections carry added importance, as the outcome would influence the general election in 2016 and the presidential election the next year.

But however important the electoral contest may be, now is not the time for the two main political parties to focus solely on preparing for it. While gearing up for the elections, they should also do their legislative work, which remains largely unfinished.

Under the law on the operation of the Assembly, an extraordinary session is to be convened in April and June, but given the timing of the local elections, lawmakers are unlikely to be able to sit for these sessions to review legislative proposals. So they need to hold a session in March.

During the February parliamentary session, lawmakers only passed 158 bills, a mere 2.4 percent of the 6,500 waiting for deliberation.

“People’s livelihoods first” has long been the mantra of the two parties. But they themselves showed this was nothing more than lip service. They did not even bother to pass legislation directly related to people’s livelihoods.

One such bill is the one on the basic pension for senior citizens. Last year, the government promised to introduce the new pension starting in July. For benefit payments to start as announced, the bill should be passed by this month at the latest.

So the Saenuri Party proposed to the DP that they hold a session this month, albeit briefly, to push through the pension bill and other welfare-related legislation. The opposition party has agreed to convene the Health and Welfare Committee without fully accepting the ruling party’s offer.

The two parties should go beyond discussing the pension and welfare legislation at the committee level. They need to convene the Assembly throughout the month to handle other urgent proposals as well, including those aimed at promoting corporate investment.

For instance, they need to approve without further delay the bill on promoting tourism. The government says this bill would pave the way for corporations to invest up to 2 trillion won in construction of new hotels and create 47,000 jobs.

The bill on protecting credit information also needs to be dealt with promptly to enable victims of corporate data breaches to claim punitive compensation. Last week’s hacking incident at KT Corp., which followed the recent massive data leaks from credit card companies, attests to the need to enact the bill.

With reform bills piling up, President Park Geun-hye lamented parliamentary inaction a few days ago. Referring to legislation related to scholarships for students, safety insurance for farmers and fishers, and support for venture companies, she called for political parties to pay more attention to improving people’s livelihoods.

The primary responsibility of lawmakers is to make laws. But these days, they spend far more time stalling the legislative process than carrying out their primary duty. This abnormal situation must be corrected.

In the past, most policy decisions were made by the administration, with the Assembly simply expected to endorse them without question. As democracy has deepened in Korea, things have changed.

Today, the Assembly has become far more powerful. In many cases, it takes the driver’s seat. So the wheels of government stop when the parliament is stalled. This should be brought home to lawmakers so that they use their power more prudently. They should always do their best to keep the machinery of government running smoothly.

By Yu Kun-ha

Yu Kun-ha is chief editorial writer of The Korea Herald. He can be reached at khyu@heraldcorp.com. ― Ed.