ed Verdict on free meals
The mayor gambled on risky referendum
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s proposal to introduce the free school meal program gradually and limitedly became null and void Wednesday. The referendum did not need counting of votes as it failed to draw 33.3 percent of all eligible votes.
From next year, free meals will be available to all elementary-and middle-school students in the capital.
The mayor is expected to resign soon. A by-election is to take place. Oh’s defeat is a warning to the divided ruling party. The divisive Grand National Party was unable to do its best to win the voting. Pro-Park Geun-hye faction members stood on the sideline with their arms crossed. The faction was nonchalant over the mayor’s crusade as his victory would be a formidable threat to its leader’s presidential ambition.
Its loss was also a popular verdict on the performance of the Lee Myung-bak administration. Public disgruntlement over his leadership reached a peak as social and economic polarization has been widening.
Predictions over opposition dominance in the National Assembly elections next April become one-step closer to reality.
The opposition Democratic Party should not be joyful. Its boycott campaign, although legal under the current law, runs against the basic principle of participatory democracy. Wednesday’s result does not necessarily mean that voters have endorsed the party’s populist campaign to introduce the universal welfare policy.
Many Seoulites were too busy to go to the polls on the working day. Except for parents with children attending elementary and middle schools, not many of the Seoul adults showed interest in the issue of the referendum, the first in the nation’s local autonomy system.
The referendum has left behind many lessons. It should have been an occasion for residents to support or oppose the free-school meal program. It has become highly politicized. Mayor Oh declared his decision not to run for the presidential election and staked his mayorship on the result. This has turned the voting into a confidence vote on him.
Ahead of the voting, conservatives and liberals had waged a life-or-death battle. This ideological battle has widened schism between the two groups. This is anachronistic in view of the fact that many Western democracies borrow policies of their political rivals.
The referendum was costly and unproductive because Mayor Oh and the City Council could have adjusted the speed and scope of the free meal program through compromise. The mayor failed to demonstrate his political acumen. The opposition-dominated council showed arrogance and recalcitrance.
It has also become necessary to redefine the scope of issues for a referendum and rules of campaigning. Local referendum laws are too abstract. For example, boycotting the voting should become illegal.
Responsibilities of heads of local autonomous organizations and educational boards must undergo redefinition.