Will Recall Ordinance Be Introduced?

Civil society groups have begun to voice demand for the introduction of a recall against local government officials implicated in corruption. Some groups went so far as to file a plea for its legislation as an ordinance.

Both the Grand National Party and the Uri Party said they will consider an introduction of the recall, further boosting the debate.

The YMCA and other civic groups in the city of Guri in Gyeonggi Province filed the first-of-its-kind plea for the legislation of a recall as an ordinance with a petition signed by 4,000 citizens in December of last year.

Civil society groups in Gwangju formed a Committee for the Legislation of a Recall to Purge Corrupt Politicians in February and filed a legislation plea. The two cities’ councils will review the bill late this month.

“The campaign is aimed at restoring the fundamental rights of residents by allowing them to divest [corrupt] elected officials of their office,” Kang Chang-won, a lawyer who is leading the recall legislation campaign in Gwangju. “This is all about constitutional rights.”

In Changwon, Gyeongnam, civil society groups welded together and filed a plea with the court demanding a maximum sentence against its mayor, Bae Han-seong, who breached election regulations.

His office was stripped late last month as the Supreme Court upheld his guilty verdict.

YMCA in Ulsan, along with 57 YMCA branches nationwide, filed a petition with the National Assembly demanding an amendment of the local government law to allow a recall.

In the Gwangsan district of Gwangju, civil society groups organized an unofficial recall vote on the district ward head who were prosecuted for taking bribes.

Thirty-nine council members of South Jeolla Province proposed a recall bill against Governor Park Tae-young who defected from the Millennium Democratic Party to the Uri Party.

Opposition to the recall is more than strong on the grounds that it could hurt the stability of administration.

“It is questionable whether or not a recall can be introduced as an ordinance in the absence of any higher law,” people close to the Gwangju city council said cautiously. “This issue requires a complete review in the light of the government’s move to introduce similar legislation.”

“Since minor elected official needs a party nomination, the recall vote can be exploited by the party which loses the elections,” Ulsan Ulju County Council Chair Byun Yang-seop said, expressing his opposition, “Setting in motion a recall itself could divide the electorate. It will also hurt elected officials’ self-confidence.”

The recall is a strange concept to us although Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a recall vote. The campaign for the introduction of the recall focuses on corruption rather than policy failure. The campaign is gaining force as elected officials renounced their old party memberships en masse to join a party which they believe will become a majority after the April 15 elections.