INCHEON METROPOLITAN COUNCIL

Sessions

The Assembly can legally sit for 120 days a year. Regular sessions, of which there are two in a year, should not take longer than 40 days, and occasional sessions that are assembled when demanded by the Chairman of the Local Administrative Office or by more than 1/3 of the enrolled members are limited to 15 days.

Convocation

• Local Assembly does not assemble throughout the year, but only assembles during a designated period. Assembly refers to the act of gathering in a particular place to practice the original function of the Assembly. The sessions are decided by the resolution of the Assembly. The regular assembly is managed up to 40 days a year for two sessions. The first assembly takes place on June 24 and the second assembly takes place on November 24. Occasional assembly does not take longer than 15 days. Therefore, the total days of assembly in each year do not exceed 120 days including the occasional and regular assemblies.
• In case of occasional assemblies, the President of the Assembly should convene the members within 15 days from the date when he/she received a demand from the Chairman of Local Government Offices or from more than 1/3 of the enrolled members. The President should also announce the convocation seven days prior to the assembly and notify all members regarding the assembly. Regular assemblies are made known only through public announcements without additional notifications. The legislative activities of the Assembly start with assemblies and the legal duration of such legislative activities is called the 「session」.
• National Assembly is the highest legislative organ for the resolutions of the Assemblies. Before the assembly, information on the starting date of discussions, the schedule of the assembly including discussions and sequences, and related bills are distributed to each seat, and the assembly begins as soon as more than 1/3 of the enrolled members are present. On the first assembly of a session, an opening ceremony is held before the opening of the assembly. The opening ceremony invites executive officials, including the mayor or the superintendent of educational affairs. After the opening ceremony, the opening of the assembly is declared and general information, such as the proposal and presentation of issues and submission of audit reports, is announced. The issues are discussed following the sequence stated on the schedule.
• On the first day of the assembly, relatively basic matters, such as the opening ceremonies, determination of the length of the session, and the selection of members to sign the assembly records, are dealt with.The National Assembly's resolution process is as follows: it discusses an issue; it hears from the proposers or about the audit reports from the pre-audit committee; it conducts Q & A; and it votes for the resolution. General questions are answered by the chairman of the pre-audit committee or by the member who announced the audit report, and questions regarding the proposal are answered by the proposer or his/her representative. The discussion is started by the pros, and then opposed by the cons.
• Once the discussions are concluded the end of discussion and the start of voting are declared. Voting is the finalizing step of an issue by revealing the pros and cons of the issue to determine whether it is passed or rejected.The method includes unanimity, standing vote, secret ballot and open ballot. When there are cons, general issues are decided by standing votes and when there are no questions or pros and cons, issues are decided by unanimity. Also, the President or the members can agree upon the method of voting and the voting in the Assembly uses secret ballot unless designated otherwise. Except for special cases, the resolution of general issues is finalized by the agreement of majority of the members present, only when a majority of the enrolled members are present. The President also has the right to vote and when the votes counted are equal, the issue is considered rejected. When the scheduled discussion and voting is completed, the next assembly date and other details are announced and an adjournment is declared.