Basic-level councils in northern Gyeonggi Province, newly launched through the 9th nationwide local elections and emphasizing bipartisan cooperation, are repeatedly stalling over how to organize their assemblies. As ruling-opposition disputes over chairmanship and standing committee posts combine with infighting within majority parties, councils that cannot even hold their opening ceremonies are emerging one after another. This contrasts with new local government heads who are accelerating organizational reforms and handling of livelihood issues immediately after taking office, raising growing concerns over a legislative vacuum.
According to each local council on the 9th, the selection of the first-half leadership and the opening ceremony of the Goyang City Council, composed of 18 seats held by the Democratic Party and 16 by the People Power Party, have both been postponed indefinitely. The People Power Party demanded that while the majority Democratic Party takes the chairmanship, two of the five standing committee chair posts and the vice-chairmanship be allocated to the People Power Party.
The Democratic Party, on the other hand, countered that the chair and vice-chair should first be elected at a plenary session, and that the allocation of standing committee chairs be discussed later.
The People Power Party's position is that this cannot be accepted. Two years ago, during the organization of the second half of the 9th council, the party accepted a Democratic Party proposal but ended up ceding all leadership posts and all five standing committee chairs. The People Power Party is holding firm, saying, "First promise to guarantee two standing committee chair posts."
There have also been successive cases where the council organization was delayed due to internal rifts within majority parties. The Uijeongbu City Council, where the Democratic Party holds a majority with 8 of the total 13 seats, has been engulfed in infighting. Although it is customary in basic-level councils for the most senior member of the majority party to take the chairmanship, some first-term members protested against the chair election of the only second-term member.
This even ignored the Democratic Party's "Guidelines for Selecting Wide-Area and Basic Council Leadership," which state that "second-term members shall be considered first when selecting leadership candidates," drawing criticism even among local party members. After considerable difficulty, an agreement was reached on the council organization, but the internal conflict has not easily subsided.
The situation is similar at the Namyangju City Council. Although the Democratic Party has one more member than the People Power Party, conflict began when it proposed a council organization plan to secure all six posts, including the chair, vice-chair, and standing committee chairs. On the first day of the session, after a recess caused by conflict over leadership allocation among Democratic Party members from the A, B, and C districts, the council has not been able to convene since.
The Democratic Party's internal factions recently reached an agreement on allocation, but this time the council organization fell through due to conflict with the People Power Party. Ultimately, the meeting was recessed with only People Power Party members in attendance, halting the council organization.
For this reason, critics point out that with the new mayor showing a strong drive early in his term, the council wasting time on its organization does not meet citizens' expectations.
An official in local political circles said, "The local councils that put bipartisan cooperation at the top of their agenda at launch are now absorbed in turf wars, pushing livelihood issues such as budget deliberation and ordinance revision to the back burner," adding, "I hope they will keep their promise to look only to the citizens, even now."
