The bill on redrawing electoral district boundaries finally passed the National Assembly on Wednesday, with just 42 days left to the coming April 13 general election.

The parliament has also enacted the controversial antiterrorism bill and a long-stalled bill on improving North Korean human rights.

The Assembly could act on the three key bills and a host of others as The Minjoo Party of Korea ended its filibuster Wednesday, after a total of 38 lawmakers had obstructed the passage of the antiterrorism legislation with long speeches for nine days starting Feb. 23.

The party could have extended the filibuster, which was being practiced for the first time in 47 years, to March 10, the final day of the ongoing parliamentary session.

In fact, many of the party’s hard-line lawmakers, including floor leader Rep. Lee Jong-kul, wanted to do so, as their determined resistance to the antiterrorism bill elicited unexpected support from young voters.

But the party’s interim chairman, Kim Jong-in, wanted to cut short the obstructionist strategy, arguing that extending it would prompt a public backlash and result in the Minjoo Party playing into the hands of the ruling Saenuri Party.

Kim’s cool-headed judgment prevailed. He was probably right that had the party continued the filibuster without acting on the bill on a new electoral map, it would have backfired.

The opposition party would also have allowed the ruling party to frame the upcoming election as a battle between a political group committed to protecting people from terrorist attacks, with no sense of responsibility for people’s security.

Nevertheless, it was fortunate that the new electoral map could be passed without further delay. The legal deadline for the new map was Nov. 13, five months before the poll. The long delay has already caused many problems in preparing for the election.

The National Election Commission has to race against time in making preparations. In the first place, it has to draw up the electoral registers for Korean nationals residing abroad by Friday.

Political parties are also pressed for time as they have to finalize candidates through primaries. The rival parties planned to hold primaries in early March, but a delay has become inevitable.

This year, the parties agreed to use secured phone numbers for their primaries. Under the new election law endorsed Wednesday, parties are required to ask the NEC to provide them with secured telephone numbers within three days of the promulgation of the new law.

Mobile phone companies are required to provide secured phone numbers to political parties within five days of the date they receive such a request from the NEC.

It remains to be seen whether the primaries will proceed without a hitch as telephone polls are conducted for the first time.

The biggest victims of the long delay in passing the new electoral map are political novices who have registered in redrawn districts.

These candidates have to choose in which district they should run and may have to start all over again. But the amount of money they can spend on campaign activities in the new districts is the authorized amount, minus what they have already spent.

The NEC needs to do its utmost to ensure that the election is held fairly and without mishaps.