주민투표법개정안의 문제점과 보완방안

Abstract

The will of people and the decision of local government are not always consistent. Referendum and initiative are political systems founded to overcome the disagreements between the two and to secure the sovereignty of the people. The referendum and the initiative belong to direct democracy, working in order to complement the system of representation. Since the introduction of the referendum system in 2004, there have been only nine referendums from the 243 local governments nationwide, which was carried out by the votes of the people. This result means that the referendum system has been introduced, but is not up to the level of being actually used. The most important reason why the referendum system is not activated is due to the deficiencies in the design of the system. Chapter 2 examines the background of the referendum system. Chapter 3 analyzes the cases of the referendum that have been implemented in the past and also examine the problems. In particular, it will focus on the referendum concerning the Seoul Metropolitan City free lunch and the referendum on the re-establishment of Jinju Medical Center in Gyeongsangnam-do. Chapter 4 analyzes the problems of the referendum law based on case analysis and suggests an improvement plan. The biggest problem is that there is no provision for referendum in the referendum law, and there are too many prohibitions on the referendum. In order to solve this problems, suggestions are posed that the referendum should be separated from the initiative in the law and the prohibition of the referendum should be deleted. Moreover, the content of the revision bill proposed by the government to the National Assembly in 2019 is assessed and a substantial supplement is proposed.