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Referendum on free school meals to be held in August
By Lee Hyo-sik
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday that a residents’ referendum on free school meals in Seoul will go ahead as planned in late August, after confirming the number of valid signatures collected for the vote is more than legally required.
The National Anti-Populism Union (NAPU), set up by a group of conservative civic groups, has asked the Seoul government to hold the referendum to stop the current school meal program designed to provide free lunches to all students at elementary schools regardless of their parents’ financial status.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also wants to stop the current free meal program, which was initiated by Kwak No-hyun, the liberal superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, through the referendum.
The city government said that of the total 815,817 signatures collected from city residents who disapprove of the free school meal scheme, 548,342 signatures, or 67.2 percent, were valid. The remaining 267,475 were annulled, due to falsity and other irregularities.
With the number of legitimate signatures exceeding 418,000, or 5 percent of eligible voters needed as the minimum number to hold the vote, city officials said the referendum under which Seoul residents vote on whether to abolish the free school meal program will be held.
``Since June 27, we have been examining a long list of signatures submitted by NAPU. We confirmed their names and resident registration numbers to check whether signatures were legitimate or not. We screened out those who do not live in Seoul, were under 19 or submitted signatures more than once,’’ a city official said.
The city plans to form an ad-hoc committee, consisting of lawyers, scholars and civic group representatives, to review the legitimacy of the referendum.
``As soon as the referendum is approved by the committee, the city will make a public announcement. We will then discuss a voting date with the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission. The vote will likely be held in late August,’’ the official said.