Geumcheon-gu Holds Online Residents' Assembly to Select Agenda for 2021 Resident Autonomy Projects

Starting June 18 in Siheung 1-dong, Various Forms of Resident Opinion Collection by Dong... Online Voting Focused on ‘Village Project Agenda’ by Dong, Combined with Offline Voting

Last May, residents engaged in a heated discussion to select village project agendas at the Siheung 2-dong Residents' General Assembly held at the Siheung 2-dong Community Center.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) announced that starting from the 18th, each neighborhood’s residents’ autonomous committee will conduct a ‘resident vote’ to decide on the 2021 residents’ autonomy projects for each neighborhood in Geumcheon-gu.

Since the end of 2017, when all neighborhoods nationwide were first converted to residents’ autonomous committees, the district has been collecting residents’ opinions annually through residents’ general meetings.

However, this year, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, residents’ opinions will be gathered through a non-face-to-face method. The voting will primarily be conducted online, with offline polling stations operated concurrently.

At this residents’ general meeting, agenda items for village projects in each neighborhood will be presented based on autonomy plans such as the ‘2021 resident activity support project plan through the return of collected resident tax’ and the ‘2021 Seoul city neighborhood-level citizen participation budget project plan.’

Previously, each neighborhood’s residents’ autonomous committee discovered village agendas to be presented for the resident vote through various opinion-gathering methods such as ‘surveys’ and ‘on-site agenda proposal submissions.’ To enhance project feasibility, they have discussed legal reviews and project validity together with the relevant district office departments.

Any resident of the respective neighborhood can participate in the residents’ general meeting. Starting with Siheung 1-dong on the 18th, seven neighborhoods will conduct voting. Gasan-dong, Doksan 4-dong, and Siheung 4-dong will select agendas at the regular residents’ autonomy meetings in July and August, and if the COVID-19 situation stabilizes by the end of December, a follow-up residents’ general meeting will be held.

Online voting can be participated in on the Geumcheon-gu Office website according to the voting schedule for each neighborhood. Offline voting will be conducted at permanent polling stations operated at each neighborhood community center according to the schedule.

Meanwhile, since December 2017, the district has been the first nationwide to convert all neighborhoods (dong) to residents’ autonomous committees and has been striving to establish village democracy. Last year, through the return of the collected resident tax (individual equal share) by neighborhood, the district expanded village agenda projects, creating an opportunity to enhance the autonomy and execution power of practical residents’ autonomy.

Mayor Yu Seong-hoon said, “This year, due to COVID-19, the residents’ general meetings deciding neighborhood-level residents’ autonomy projects will be replaced by online voting. As Geumcheon-gu is the first nationwide to implement residents’ autonomous committees in all neighborhoods and has developed them into a leading city for residents’ autonomy, we hope many residents will show interest and participate in this online voting for exercising residents’ autonomy rights.”

For more details, inquiries can be made to the Geumcheon-gu Office Village Autonomy Division or each neighborhood community center.

At the Doksan 4-dong Residents' Assembly held in May last year, attendees including Yuseong Hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu (fourth from the left in the photo), and Jin Young, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (third from the left in the photo), are taking a commemorative photo.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.