Guidelines puzzle campaigners in school meal referendum

Campaign guidelines on the upcoming Seoul referendum on free school meals are so ambiguous that they will likely cause confusion for both sides of the poll.

The National Election Commission set guidelines for the vote Thursday which allow campaigners to guide citizens to participate in the vote, but bans them from actively encouraging them to vote.

The concepts of “guiding to participate in the vote” and “actively encouraging to vote” are confusing to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which has pushed for the city’s first plebiscite on the free school meal ordinance, and the city council which opposes the poll itself.

The Seoul government led by Mayor Oh Se-hoon, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, prefers selective, phased welfare over universal, all-at-once benefits advocated by the city council dominated by members of the main opposition Democratic Party.

The campaign regulations allow both sides to let the citizens know basic information such as the referendum date, but if the information is provided together with goods not allowed by the election commission or provided during a trip hosted by either side, such campaign will be illegal.

The city government decries the ban on encouraging citizens to go to the polling stations as a measure that goes against principles of democracy.

“It is our duty to campaign for the referendum as a city government. The campaign should not only include offering basic information on the vote but also encouraging citizens to vote to raise the overall voter turnout,” said Seoul City spokesperson Lee Jong-hyun.

The city council approved the 70-billion-won ($66.66 million) ordinance for free school meals to all schools, despite the Seoul mayor and its city government’s opposition in December.

Since then, the two sides have been at loggerheads over the scope of free school meals: the city council support free lunch to all elementary and secondary school students, but Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wants free meals for just students from low-income families.

A union of conservative civic groups against the free school meal filed petition against the ordinance and collected signatures calling for a referendum. The referendum will be initiated on Thursday and expected in late August.

In order for the voting result to be valid, at least one third or 33.3 percent, of eligible Seoul voters must cast ballots. The vote will be determined by the majority.

Since it will be held on a weekday, the turnout is expected to be low.

Now the city focuses on boosting the turnout to more than 33 percent, which will guarantee them a win.

The city councilors vow to boycott the vote, but the election panel said the boycott will be illegal.

“A boycott of the vote will be considered illegal as the election law doesn’t allow boycotting a vote in campaigns,” said an election commission official.

As to the measure, Democratic Party spokesperson of the city council Oh Seung-rok said: “The election commission should recognize the boycott of the referendum as a way of expressing a political view.”

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)