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The total number of National Assembly seats came down to 273 from the current 299, as 26 seats were removed under new election laws, which passed at the House early yesterday morning.

The 273 seats are distributed among 227 polling districts and 46 for the nationwide proportional constituency.

The new election laws failed to introduce the ruling camp-proposed ``one-voter two-ballot'' formula, as the opposition Grand National Party and the United Liberal Democrats rejected it during voting.

The ULD, coalition partner of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, supported the opposition's one-ballot formula, instead of the ``party ballot'' proposal by its coalition partner.

So, in the April 13 poll, the number of representative seats won the parties will be determined by the total ballots cast for their candidates.

In a measure to guarantee equal political opportunity for women, the new laws stipulate that parties provide 30 percent of the candidate positions in the national constituency to women.

Rep. Lee Hoi-chang, president of the opposition Grand National Party, already pledged to issue 30 percent of the party's nomination tickets for the proportional seats to women, and the coalition ruling camp is expected to follow suit.

If the parties do so in the upcoming general election, women could possibly occupy 13 proportional representation seats, at least.

In another major reform measure, the new laws permit NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to engage in campaign activities, thus legalizing the controversial blacklist campaign that civic groups brought against unqualified politicians.

However, the House retained the ban on campaigns staged before the official election period, inviting the criticism of the civic groups which have been clamoring for the abolition of all restrictions on their campaign activities.

The new laws also introduce confirmation hearings at the Assembly for major government posts, including prime minister and chief justice, which are subject to endorsement by the legislature.

But the other ``big four'' posts, such as prosecutor general and director of the National Intelligence Service, still remain free from the confirmation procedure, as the opposition failed to persuade the ruling camp into accepting the measure.

The ruling MDP suffered a setback as it failed to introduce the ``party vote,'' which was touted as one of the key measures to redress political regionalism.

The proposed abolition of local party chapters to reduce political costs was also rejected during inter-partisan negotiations, with House observers saying that the political and electoral reform project ended up a half-success.

Upon the new election laws, the opposition GNP expressed satisfaction, mainly with the result of retaining the one-ballot formula. ``What counts is to conduct a clean and fair election, now that the election laws are finally settled,'' GNP spokesman Lee Sa-churl said.

However, the ruling MDP and Chong Wa Dae voiced discontent with the rejection of their voting formula, with presidential spokesman Park Joon-young saying,``It is utterly regrettable that the new bills failed to live up to the public's expectations for political reform.''

In the meantime, the reduction of the House seats by 26 alarmed current lawmakers, whose constituencies will cease to exist.

The fewer number of House seats is also expected to intensify nomination contests at the respective camps.