Citizens' petition demanding Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae withdraw from the party exceeds 10,000 in three days

“Stop intervening in central politics and take care of the people’s livelihood”… Meets requirements for direct response from the governor

(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Chan-heung = Following the resignation of Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, a citizen petition demanding withdrawal from the Democratic Party of Korea was posted, and the number of signatures exceeded 10,000 in three days.

As Gyeonggi Province previously closed a resignation petition that garnered 30,000 signatures, unusually early, attention is focused on what position it will take on this petition.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 17th, after a citizens' petition titled 'We hope Governor Choo Mi-ae voluntarily abandons her party affiliation' was posted on the website on the 15th, the number of signatures reached over 12,000 that afternoon.

The governor must personally respond to petitions that receive more than 10,000 signatures within 30 days of comment collection.

The petitioner pointed out, “The current situation in which the governor, who is in charge of the metropolitan government with the largest population in Korea, is excessively interfering in central politics while leaving Gyeonggi-do behind should no longer be ignored,” and added, “The most basic responsibility of the governor is to look after the lives of Gyeonggi-do residents, secure Gyeonggi-do’s budget, and stably manage welfare and people’s livelihood.”

He then said, "We urge you to voluntarily abandon your party membership and be reborn as a governor only for the people of Gyeonggi Province," and demanded, "Return to Gyeonggi Province administration and use the capabilities you devote to political speech and your own politics to securing Gyeonggi Province's budget and stabilizing the people's livelihood."

Previously, on the 11th, a petition titled 'We petition for the resignation of Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae' was posted. The petition had more than 30,000 signatures in five days, but Gyeonggi Province posted a response saying, "We express deep regret for distorting the facts as if the people's livelihood budget was intentionally cut," and ended the opinion collection early.

This is an unusual measure considering that petitions with more than 10,000 signatures usually receive additional opinions for 30 days. As a result, criticism arose as to whether the expression of opinions of the citizens was blocked.