Anyang, Gunpo, and Uiwang Meet Petition Signature Requirements for Merger
Following Uiwang City, the three cities of Anyang, Gunpo, and Uiwang have met the required number of resident petition signatures for municipal merger.
Accordingly, these local governments are expected to submit merger proposal documents to Gyeonggi Province in the coming days, raising the likelihood that a resident referendum on the three-city merger will be held.
According to Anyang City and Gunpo City on the 20th, following confirmation of resident signature registers submitted by the Three-City Merger Promotion Committee, both cities have exceeded the required signature threshold.
In the case of Anyang City, upon examination of the resident signature register (45,347 signatures) submitted by the Merger Promotion Committee, more than 30,000 signatures were found to be valid. The eligible resident population for Anyang's merger proposal is 9,637.
A city official stated, "The number of resident petition signatures meets the standard. We plan to announce the exact number of resident signatures this afternoon or tomorrow," and added, "We plan to submit three proposal documents—from residents, the city council, and the mayor—to Gyeonggi Province next week."
The city council will hold the 7th plenary session of the 2nd regular session of the 184th City Council on the 21st to pass a resolution on the three-city merger and submit a merger proposal document to Gyeonggi Province.
Gunpo City, upon initial verification of the signature register, found that 10,141 signatures—83.2% of the 12,188 resident signatures originally submitted—are valid. The eligible resident population for Gunpo's merger proposal is 4,396.
A city official stated, "We are currently conducting final verification of valid signatories through computer cross-checking of confirmed valid signatures with each community service center," and noted, "We understand that typically 15 to 20 percent are invalidated in this process. Even accounting for this, we expect approximately 7,000 to 8,000 valid signatures."
The city plans to submit the merger proposal document to Gyeonggi Province around the 27th if the valid signature count meets the standard.
Uiwang City previously announced on the 2nd that the number of valid signatures met the merger proposal standard and plans to submit the proposal document to Gyeonggi Province on the 23rd.
Upon verification of the 7,051 resident signatures submitted by Uiwang's Merger Promotion Committee, after excluding 3,534 invalid signatures due to duplicates and other reasons, the valid count of 3,509 exceeded the eligible resident population of 2,281 for the merger proposal.
Accordingly, all three cities in the Anyang area have exceeded the resident signature standard, and it is expected that proposals to Gyeonggi Province will be made between the 23rd and 27th.
Upon receipt of the proposal documents, Gyeonggi Province will attach provincial opinions and submit the merger proposals to the Presidential Committee on Local Administrative System Reform.
The Minister of Interior and Safety will recommend merger to local governments that have submitted merger proposals beginning in June next year, and will decide on merger after holding consultations with local councils or conducting resident referendums by June 2013. The merged city will be launched in July 2014.