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  1. INCHEON METROPOLITAN COUNCIL

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Sessions

The meetings in which the council may lawfully function shall be regular and extraordinary sessions, and an extraordinary session shall be convened at the request of the head of the local government or upon the request of at least 1/3 of all incumbent council members.

Convocation

  • - The local council does not operate continuously throughout the year; rather,it shall be active for a fixed period of time. In addition, the act of convening in a certain place to exercise the functions inherent of the council is called convocation.
    The sessionshall be determined by a vote of the council, and the regular session shall be held twice a year, with the first convocation on June 1 and the second one on November 5.
    In case of an extraordinary meeting, if there is a request from the head of the local government or a request of not less than one third of the registered members, the Speaker of the Council shall convene a meeting within 15 days from the date of the request. When convocation of an extraordinary session is requested, the Speaker shall announce it publicly three days before the session is convened and notify it to all members. In addition, a regular meeting shall be held only through the public announcement procedure without a request for convocation of a session.
    Likewise, parliamentary activities of the Council shall begin at the same time as the convocation, and the period during which such parliamentary activities can be carried out is called the “session.”
  • - The plenary session shall be the highest decision-making body of the National Assembly. Before the start of the session, the agenda for the day that lists the date and time of the opening, matters for discussion, and the order of the session shall be distributed to the seats in advance before starting, and the meeting shall begin with presence of at least 1/3 of the incumbent council members, which is the quorum for proceedings.
    On the first day of the session, an opening ceremony shall be heldprior to the opening of the plenary session. It is usually attended by the mayor, superintendent, and other executive officials.
    After the declaration of the opening at the end of the opening ceremony, the members shall propose and present bills and submit reports on examination. The bills shall be presented and proceeded as stated in the order of the agenda after reporting the matters to be known.
    On the first day of the session, relatively simple matters,e.g., opening ceremony, determination of the sessions, election of the signatories to the minutes, etc., are customarily handled.
  • - The processing of agendas at the plenary session is as follows:presentation of bills; listening to members’ proposals or reports pre-examined by the Council; interpellation and debate; debate; and resolution through a vote.
    If there is interpellation, the Speaker of the Council that examined the proposal or the member who reported on the examination shall give a supplementary explanation. In case of a proposal explanation, the proposing member or the member who explained the proposal shall give an answer to an interpellation, and the debate shall proceed in the order of opposition and support. At the end of the debate, it shall be declared that a vote shall be taken with the conclusion of the debate.
    Voting is the final stage of deliberation on bills to determine the pros and cons. There are several ways of voting: unanimous vote, standing vote, secret vote, and open vote; however,if there is a debate against a bill, most general matters are often treated through a standing vote, whereas a unanimous vote, which is a method to examine presence of any objection, is adopted when there is no interpellation or debate.In addition, if there is a plenary resolution with the proposal of the Speaker or the consent of the members regarding the voting method, it may proceed in the manner voted on. Elections ofthe Council shall be held through a secret voting unless otherwise specified.
    Except for certain matters, the general agenda shall be decided with the attendance of a majority of all the Council members and by the concurrent vote of a majority of the members present. The Speaker shall also have the right to vote, and if the result of the vote is a tie, it shall be deemed to be rejected.
    When the proceedings of the items on the agenda have been completed, the Speaker shall announce the next date and time of the session and declare an adjournment of the meeting.