South Korea's National Assembly passed a special law for the administrative merger of South Jeolla Province and Gwangju Metropolitan City, along with amendments to the Local Autonomy Act, in a ruling party-led vote on Wednesday.
The legislature approved the "Special Act for Establishment of Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City" and revisions to the Local Autonomy Act during the plenary session. Lawmakers from the opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote in protest of what they called the ruling party's unilateral legislative push.
The special law grants the newly established Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City a status equivalent to Seoul Special City. It provides special provisions for national fiscal support and educational autonomy. The legislation also includes clauses permitting excess issuance of local bonds, establishment of a balanced development fund within the integrated special city, and local tax reductions for development projects. Special provisions for focused support of the shipbuilding industry and promotion of democratic citizenship education were also included.
The revised Local Autonomy Act establishes the legal basis for creating an integrated special city and sets the number of deputy mayors at four.
Amendments to the National Referendum Act were also passed under ruling party leadership. The bill was approved with all 176 lawmakers present voting in favor, as People Power Party members remained absent. The revision guarantees overseas Korean citizens' voting rights in national referendums by including "persons registered on the overseas voter list" as eligible voters.
The amendment follows a 2014 Constitutional Court ruling that declared unconstitutional a provision limiting referendum voter rolls to those with domestic resident registration or overseas Koreans with reported domestic addresses as of the referendum announcement date.
The revised law also stipulates that national referendums on constitutional amendments must be held on the Wednesday immediately preceding the 30th day after the National Assembly approves the constitutional revision.
Wednesday's plenary session resumed at 8:45 p.m. after a recess following the end of a filibuster at 3:46 p.m. The People Power Party had announced the termination of its filibuster against the National Referendum Act, which began the previous day.