Opposition parties move to impeach Yoon after martial law fiasco

By AJP Posted : December 4, 2024, 16:13 Updated : December 4, 2024, 19:46
Lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party and other minor parties submit a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 4, 2024. Yonhap
SEOUL, December 4 (AJP) - Some 191 lawmakers from six opposition parties including the main opposition Democratic Party and minor parties like the Rebuilding Korea Party and the New Reform Party submitted a motion on Wednesday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, after his abrupt late-night declaration of martial law, which was ended in a chaotic overnight fiasco.

By law, the National Assembly is required to vote on whether to impeach a president through a secret ballot within 72 hours after the impeachment motion being tabled in a parliamentary session.

The Constitution stipulates that such a motion against the president must be proposed by a majority of the National Assembly members, and more than two-thirds of them or 200 lawmakers must vote in favor for it to pass.

The submitted motion is expected to be put to a vote Friday or Saturday.

With the DP holding a majority with 170 lawmakers in the National Assembly, the allied opposition parties would still need about a dozen additional votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.

Of the 300 parliamentary members, 190 including around 18 lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party voted in favor of lifting the martial law declared by Yoon the previous day. However, it remains to be seen whether these PPP lawmakers who supported lifting the martial law amid the party's internal strife will also vote in favor of impeachment.

Once the impeachment vote passes, Yoon's duties will be suspended immediately as the Constitutional Court begins deliberating the case, which could take several months.

The disgraced former President Park Geun-hye's duties were suspended for three months after the National Assembly passed her impeachment bill in December 2016, until the Constitutional Court upheld it in March the following year.

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