Assemblyman Joo Cheol-hyun: "Direct Election System for Both Suhyup Central President and Unit Cooperative Heads"

Current Unit Union Chiefs Elect New Central Chairman About 20 Days Before Term Expiration

Money Politics and Corrupt Elections Fuel Negative Election Culture... Unreasonable Suhyup Elections

[Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek] A proposal has been raised to elect the new head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (SuHyup) through a direct election by all members simultaneously, instead of the current election system where the heads of individual fisheries cooperatives elect the new central chairman shortly before their terms expire.

According to Joo Cheol-hyun, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee (Jeonnam Yeosu-si Gap), the current SuHyup election system holds separate elections for the central chairman and the heads of individual cooperatives about 20 days apart every four years.

The 26th SuHyup Central Chairman election, decided by votes from the heads of 91 individual fisheries cooperatives, is scheduled for February 2023. Following that, the 3rd nationwide simultaneous cooperative head election is set for March 8, 2023.

This means that the heads of individual fisheries cooperatives, whose terms expire in about 20 days, are responsible for electing the new central chairman, which is considered an unreasonable election system.

Because of this, the current SuHyup central chairman election system makes it difficult for cooperative heads preparing for re-election to focus on the central chairman election. Moreover, since winning requires securing only 46 out of 91 cooperative heads, there are ongoing concerns about the potential for dirty and money-driven elections, as well as other corrupt practices.

Assemblyman Joo Cheol-hyun stated, “It is necessary to consider switching the SuHyup election system to a direct election system, where members directly elect the central chairman, instead of having cooperative heads elect the chairman before their terms expire.” He added, “Just as cooperative heads are elected through direct elections in the nationwide simultaneous elections, the central chairman should also be directly elected by members to establish a democratic election culture and secure the representativeness of the SuHyup Central Federation.”

In response, during the SuHyup national audit, the central chairman agreed with the concerns about the unreasonable election system and promised to actively consider improving the central chairman election to a direct election system.

Assemblyman Joo emphasized, “If the heads of individual fisheries cooperatives and the central chairman are elected together through direct elections, they can work as partners for four years, strengthening policy coordination between the central federation and the cooperatives.”

Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek simkt7@asiae.co.kr

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