By Kim Rahn
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Sunday he will wager his job to the result of a residents’ referendum on the city’s free school meal program, betting it all in the controversial vote scheduled for Wednesday.
At a tearful news conference at City Hall, Oh pledged that he will quit if the vote becomes invalid due to an insufficient number of participating voters.
The brinkmanship, only three days before the Aug. 24 vote day and without a consensus with his Grand National Party (GNP), underlined the situation that he has no other choice but to take his last option in order to encourage as many citizens as possible to cast their votes, while opposition groups are campaigning to boycott the vote.
“If my decision today can sow the seed for ‘sustainable welfare’ and ‘true democracy’ in the future, I have no regret even though I disappear from the stage of history,” the mayor said.
Announcing his determination and expressing regret to citizens who picked him as mayor, Oh had to stop reading the statement several times to wipe his tears away and blow his nose.
The mayor called for citizens to go to the polls and support his policy, which aims to provide free school lunches only to students in low-income brackets, over the city council’s idea to provide it to all students regardless of the financial status of their parents.
“It is not politicians but you electors who can set up the nation’s principle for welfare. The voter turnout should be over 33.3 percent, so that the referendum can show what citizens really want,” he said.
The 33.3 percent represents 2.79 million residents out of 838 million eligible voters.
Finishing the announcement, he abruptly fell down to his knees and bowed his head, an apparent gesture to appeal to Seoul citizens.
The decision to link his job to the vote comes from predictions that if the vote becomes invalid due to a lack of quorum to count ballots, Oh may not be able to promote other municipal affairs due to opposition from the council.
Oh has indicated that the turnout may go up by 5 percent if he wagers his job on the referendum, with his chance to win the vote also rising.
If he wins, Oh will have a stronger say in managing city government affairs and help the ruling GNP gain more public support.
But if he loses despite the resolution, he has to step down from the mayoral post and a by-election to fill the job could be held in October. It will also have a huge influence on next year’s general and presidential elections, and that’s why the GNP has opposed Oh’s risking his job out of concern that an opposition party may take the Seoul mayor post through the by-election.
GNP Spokesman Kim Gi-hyeon said it is not right to stake his post in a vote on a policy, not a vote of confidence, but added the party will support him to win the vote.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) called for the mayor to scrap the referendum.
“The mayor is threatening citizens in order to strengthen his political foothold,” DP Spokesman Lee Yong-seop said.
Along with Oh’s decision, civic groups supporting or opposing Oh are busy persuading people to participate in the vote or dissuading people from doing so, respectively.
As campaigns are getting heated, the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission Friday filed a petition with the prosecution for two people who allegedly violated election law, including an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Its superintendent, Kwak No-hyun, opposes Oh.
The official allegedly sent teachers and parents emails discouraging them from voting. The commission also asked the prosecution to investigate whether Kwak was involved.