Cheonan City Council Faces Difficulties in Second Half Organization and Chairman Election

No Consensus Reached Between Two Parties During Overseas Training
Internal Changes Underway in People Power Party Over Speaker Election

The Cheonan City Council in Chungnam is struggling to find a consensus on the election of the second half chairman and the formation of committees.

The Cheonan City Council returned on the 20th after an 8-night, 10-day overseas training trip to Turkey and Croatia.

Initially, it was expected that a broad agreement on the formation of committees and the next chairman would be reached during the overseas training, but only the differences in positions between the People Power Party and the Democratic Party regarding committee formation were confirmed. It is also reported that the majority party, People Power Party, failed to reach a consensus on the chairman election internally.

The People Power Party is currently advocating for either the same 3:2 distribution as the first half or a 4:1 distribution. Currently, the People Power Party holds the Economic Industry Committee, Welfare Culture Committee, and Construction Transportation Committee, while the Democratic Party holds the Council Operation Committee and the Administrative Safety Committee in the Cheonan City Council.

Within the People Power Party, opinions are emerging that either the current arrangement should continue or that the Council Operation Committee should also be taken by the People Power Party.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party is reportedly gaining support for the claim that they should hand over the Council Operation Committee to the People Power Party and take one of the Economic Industry Committee, Welfare Culture Committee, or Construction Transportation Committee.

The chairman election is even more complicated. This is because there is a growing desire within the People Power Party for changes in the method of electing the chairman and standing committee chairpersons.

Originally, the election of the chairman and standing committee chairpersons was traditionally done by seniority and multiple terms within the majority party, but recently, there has been a rising call for conducting official voting through formal candidacy.

This is also connected to the interests of first-term councilors aiming for standing committee chair positions. Looking at the tenure of People Power Party councilors, among the 14 councilors, Chairman Jeong Do-hee is serving his fourth term, Councilor Kim Haeng-geum is in her third term (proportional succession), Councilors Kwon Oh-jung, Kim Cheol-hwan, and Yoo Young-jin are in their second term, and there are 9 first-term councilors.

Among councilors with two or more terms, Kim Haeng-geum is the only one who has not served as chairman or standing committee chairperson in the 9th council. Depending on the committee formation negotiations, if the People Power Party takes four standing committee chair positions, up to three first-term councilors could hold standing committee chair positions.

The issue is how to decide the standing committee chairpersons among the first-term councilors. Within the People Power Party, the need for voting on the chairman and standing committee chairpersons, rather than by seniority, is being cautiously raised.

They propose to eliminate conflict factors from the start by holding fair competitions for the chairman and standing committee chairpersons. However, there are also many voices concerned about internal harmony if the tradition is broken.

Councilor A said, “As politics is changing, holding a fair competition that everyone can accept rather than following tradition could be one alternative, so it is being discussed cautiously,” adding, “Regardless of the method, fierce conflicts over the chairman and standing committee chair positions will occur, and the aftermath will be severe.”