Citizens in Gwangju and Jeonnam are demanding election reforms through overnight sit-in protests and relay demonstrations, urging adjustments in local council member counts prior to an administrative merger.
In the Gwangju and Jeonnam region, citizens are raising demands for election reforms, particularly in the context of the upcoming administrative merger of the two areas. On June 5, the Gwangju Jeonnam Citizen Society Response Team highlighted the urgency for reform, emphasizing the necessity to adjust the number of council representatives from both local assemblies. They pointed out that with the upcoming local elections on June 3, the Democratic Party is moving forward with candidate selections even before the new council configurations are confirmed. Given the current population figures, the representation ratios raise concerns about fairness and constitutional discrepancies if the councils are simply combined without adequate adjustments.
The recently passed special law regarding the establishment of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Integrated Special City only notes the need for "efforts to maintain regional and democratic balance" without specifying actual standards for determining council member counts. Citizens are worried that a simple merger could lead to disproportionate representation where some representatives serve an excessive number of voters. They are suggesting that if reducing the number of Jeonnam council members is difficult, the number of Gwangju representatives should be doubled alongside the partial increase in basic assembly members.
Furthermore, the Response Team is advocating for extensive reforms in the electoral system, including a complete implementation of the election system allowing for 3-5 members per constituency and a 30% proportional representation linkage between local and metropolitan councils. They are also calling for the institution of a runoff voting system for metropolitan leaders and prohibiting certain candidate nominations that exceed a specific gender ratio. With concerns about candidate eligibility regarding past issues surfaced within the Democratic Party, citizens demand immediate political reform initiatives to prevent uncontested elections in the integrated area, ultimately pushing for legislative amendments to support these changes.
