[Asia Economy Reporter Osangdo] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is lowering the threshold for the citizen participation platform 'Minjujuui Seoul' (Democracy Seoul). The previous standard, where the mayor responded to public forum discussion topics only if more than 5,000 citizens gathered, will be lowered to 1,000 people, and the criteria for opening a public forum will also be adjusted from the existing 500 to 100 people.
According to Seoul City on the 20th, various measures will be implemented to make the operation of Minjujuui Seoul more citizen-friendly.
First, the sporadically opened online and offline public forums according to major projects will be regularized to once a month. The entry threshold for public forums will also be lowered, with the criteria for opening a public forum adjusted from the existing 500 supporters to 100. Additionally, even if the support criteria are not met, if the topic is timely or if multiple citizens submit the same proposal, it will be sent to the public forum after going through the agenda selection committee meeting.
If more than 1,000 citizens participate in an agenda moved to the public forum, not only will the mayor respond, but it will also be reflected in the citizen participation budget allocation for the following year. Furthermore, all processes from proposal, discussion, to results will be notified to the proposer via mobile messenger or text message.
To prevent misuse of Minjujuui Seoul, which has mainly been active online, supplementary measures will also be put in place. The city plans to apply blockchain technology to prevent forgery and alteration and to verify real names to implement 'one person, one vote.'
Since its launch in October 2017, Minjujuui Seoul has received 5,963 citizen proposals. Among these, 59 proposals have actually become Seoul city policies.
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