The National Election Commission announced that the referendum on constitutional amendments cannot be held simultaneously with the local elections on June 13 if the Referendum Act amendment is not publicly announced by April 23. Given that April 23 is a Monday, the National Assembly will have to pass the Referendum Act amendment by April 20, before the weekend. However, due to the disruption of the April special session, the possibility of lawmakers passing the Referendum Act this week is little, and constitutional amendments in June do not seem likely, either.

On April 18, the election commission sent its response to a question on the final deadline for the Referendum Act amendment submitted by the Democratic Party of Korea and in it stated, "To guarantee the actual voting rights of overseas Koreans and for the stable management of overseas votes, it (Referendum Act) has to be amended and promulgated by April 23 (fifty days before the election day) at the latest."

The commission added, "In order to simultaneously conduct nationwide local elections and to carry out a referendum at the same time, all election-related items have to be manufactured, delivered to and installed at all diplomatic offices before overseas voting begins in order to manage the election in a stable manner."

Earlier in 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that Section 1 of Article 14 of the Referendum Act, which restricted the voting rights of overseas Koreans, did not conform to the Constitution. According to the decision by the Constitutional Court, the problematic section became ineffective as of January 2016. An official at the election commission said, "We cannot draw up a voter registration list based on the current clause, which does not include overseas Koreans."

According to the National Election Commission, unless the Referendum Act amendment is promulgated by this coming April 23, we cannot hold the referendum on constitutional amendments along with the local elections on June 13.

The Special Committee for Constitutional Amendments and Political Reforms said, "If the ruling and opposition parties agree to reduce the overseas absentee voting period뾱et at twenty days뾟y a maximum four days, we can delay the deadline for the Referendum Act amendment until April 27." However, the Democratic Party floor leader Woo Won-sik said, "We asked the election commission for the latest possible deadline including all those variables, and that deadline was April 23."

In order to promulgate the Referendum Act amendment, lawmakers must hold a plenary session by April 20 and pass the bill.

Prior to the vote, the bill has to be reviewed by the Public Administration and Security Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. However, the ruling and opposition parties have clashed on issues such as the controversy surrounding Kim Ki-sik, the former chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, and the alleged manipulation of online comments by members of the Democratic Party of Korea. And the National Assembly has practically shut down for eighteen days including this day. There is no sign of a resolution any time soon.

Eventually, it is likely for the constitutional amendments in June to fall apart after this week. The negotiations on constitutional amendments, which seemed to proceed in full swing with the president's proposal, are likely to fade away without any proper discussions.

At a meeting of the party's supreme council, Democratic Party floor leader Woo said, "If the opposition parties are determined to amend the Constitution, they have to focus on passing the Referendum Act amendment this week." He further said, "If they don't handle the Referendum Act, we can only interpret this as a lack of willingness to amend the Constitution, and the Liberty Korea Party will not be able to avoid the people's judgment for having failed to simultaneously conduct the referendum on constitutional amendments with the local elections this June."

The Bareun Mirae Party, Party for Democracy and Peace and the Justice Party held an event urging for successful constitutional amendments on the stairs of Rotender Hall at the National Assembly and called for lawmakers to draw up a National Assembly-led proposal for constitutional amendments based on the single draft presented by the three opposition parties.