Local Issues to be Decided by Residents

In the future, important issues involving local governments, such as establishing waste landfill sites, will be decided by the residents of the regions at stake, through a Resident Voting System. The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs announced the Tentative Plan for the Adoption of Resident Voting System on July 28, which explains the Resident Voting System in detail, including, for example, what issues would be put on resident votes and application conditions.

With the foundation of this tentative plan, the Ministry is planning to frame a draft whereby they will gather opinions from all sectors, decide upon the final bill, and submit it to this year’s regular session of the National Assembly. If the bill is passed, the law would be enacted from July 2004.

According to the tentative plan, important local issues such as building public facilities (waste landfill sites, crematories) and separating/annexing towns and townships are some of the issues that would be subjected to residents’ voting. Issues related to government policies, such as establishing nuclear waste disposal sites and annexing cities and districts, would not be decided by a residents’ poll. It would not just be the heads of organizations that would be allowed to vote under this tentative plan, however. Local assemblies and residents would also be able to vote, if certain requirements were met.

Under the current plan, once a poll is requested, after deliberation by a 9-member Resident Voting Management Committee, heads of organizations would have to put the issue to a vote within 60 days. Moreover, in cases where a majority was reached, and in which over one third of eligible voters cast ballots, local governments would have to react administratively and financially, according to the results of the votes.

To reflect residents’ opinions as much as possible in the poll, heads of neighborhood areas (dong) and executives of reserve troops would be allowed to promote their opinions in an effort to obtain votes. At the same time, though, campaigns under the Resident Voting System would be forbidden before governmental elections in order to prevent camouflaged election campaigns.

Yet there is concern that the Resident Voting System might cause confusion in local administrations if there is an excessive number of polls, for instance, and that it may lead to other negative side effects, such as dwindling the function of local governments.

Hyun-Doo Lee ruchi@donga.com