Cabinet Approves Bill to Add Three Local Council Seats in Incheon

A bill to add three local council seats in Incheon cleared a Cabinet meeting on April 29.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting and emergency economic task force meeting at the Government Complex Seoul that morning, where the government reviewed and approved a partial revision to the Public Official Election Act.

The revision is a follow-up to Yeongjong Island being newly included as Yeongjong-gu, a basic local government unit, in Incheon. Incheon Metropolitan City will reorganize its administrative system on July 1.

Because the statutory number of basic local council members is seven, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to increase the total by three through a legal revision to keep Yeongjong-gu’s council at seven members.

The bill would raise the number of Incheon’s local council members to 128 from 125 and increase the nationwide total for district, city and county councils to 3,006 from 3,003.

In opening remarks, Kim said the June 3 local elections are approaching and urged relevant ministries to step up efforts to ensure fair election management, including responding to fake news and supporting legally mandated election operations, now that redistricting has been completed.