Gwangju Gwangsan District Council Urges Passage of the Political Funds Act Amendment Bill

On the 1st, the Gwangsan District Council of Gwangju Metropolitan City urged the passage of the "Political Funds Act Amendment" in the National Assembly, which would allow local councilors to establish permanent support committees.

In a statement, the district council said, "Since the revival of local autonomy in 1991, local councilors have quietly fulfilled their roles for their regions and residents, while facing difficulties in securing insufficient funds for legislative activities on their own."

It added, "Unlike members of the National Assembly under the current Political Funds Act, local councilors can only establish support committees during their candidacy period and cannot operate them continuously. This creates a barrier that prevents those without economic means from entering local politics."

Regarding this, it emphasized, "In November 2022, the Constitutional Court ruled this unconstitutional, opening the way for local councilors to have permanent support committees. However, after passing the National Assembly’s Political Reform Special Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the bill failed to clear the plenary session."

It continued, "Without the development of local councils, which are the foundation of grassroots democracy, democracy itself cannot be established. Establishing support committees for local councils is the path toward clean and effective politics."

Finally, it strongly urged, "For the development of local autonomy and democracy, and for the active legislative activities of local councilors and the elimination of unreasonable discrimination, the National Assembly must promptly pass the amendment to the Political Funds Act."

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