National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An: Still merging communes even though more than 50% of voters disagree
(Baonghean.vn) - Presenting her opinion at the National Assembly, delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang of Nghe An delegation said that the National Assembly needs to carefully study the merger of communes that do not meet the criteria of area and population, and still merge communes even if 50% of voters do not agree.
Continuing the program of the 7th session of the 14th National Assembly on the morning of June 10 at the Hall under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu, delegates discussed the draft Law on Organization of Local Government. The majority of delegates agreed with the provisions of the draft Law.
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| 6th session - 14th National Assembly. Photo: VNA |
Merging communes - The law needs to clearly define the specifics
Participating in the discussion on the authority of the Standing Committee of the People's Council, delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang stated: The People's Councils of the provinces operate very actively, handling many arising issues, so it is not always convenient to organize People's Council sessions. Therefore, it is proposed that the National Assembly consider assigning the Standing Committee of the People's Council to resolve a number of issues between the two sessions to ensure smooth and timely operation and management activities at the local level and to resolve issues arising from practice.
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| Delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang (Nghe An delegation) participated in the discussion. Photo: VNA |
Commenting on commune mergers, although this draft does not raise this issue, based on reality, delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang suggested that the National Assembly consider the following content:
According to Resolution No. 653 of the National Assembly Standing Committee, communes that do not meet the two criteria of population and area will have to be merged, unless there are special factors.
Articles 131 and 132 of the current Law on Organization of Local Government stipulate that the merger project must be approved by more than 50% of voters. In practice, there will be cases where a commune does not meet two criteria, the Party Committee and the government actively promote propaganda but the number of voters who agree is not more than half, if so, the commune will not be merged. This is the reason why the Party and State's policies and guidelines will not be implemented without convincing reasons. To overcome this situation, it is recommended to study and amend the regulations in the direction: If a commune does not meet two criteria, it must be merged, unless there are special factors. However, the law also needs to clearly define what is considered a special case.
Carefully consider reducing the number of vice chairmen of the People's Council
On the sidelines of the meeting, delegate Tran Van Mao, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province, expressed concern about two contents discussed in the hall.
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| Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Tran Van Mao. Photo: VNA |
The first,On reducing the number of Vice Chairmen of People's Councils at provincial and district levels and reducing the number of Deputy Heads of specialized committees of People's Councils at provincial level(Clause 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12, Article 2 amends and supplements Articles 18, 25, 39, 46 and 53 of the Law on Organization of Local Government - CQDP) The Government submitted to the National Assembly 2 options: reducing 1 Vice Chairman of the People's Council, 1 Deputy Head of the specialized committee at the provincial and district levels and option 2 to keep the current law.
The Law on Organization of Local Government stipulates that the People's Councils at the provincial and district levels have two Vice Chairmen of the People's Council to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the People's Council's activities as a state power agency in the locality, deciding on important local issues. This provision does not increase the local staff compared to before, because in fact, one staff is raised from the title of "Standing Member" of the People's Council to Vice Chairman according to the provisions of the Law on Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees (2003).
This issue was reported and approved by the 11th Politburo before the National Assembly voted to include it in the current law. Delegates suggested that the Government should have a thorough assessment of the positive and negative impacts before amending because innovation, reform, arrangement and streamlining must simultaneously meet the requirements of improving the efficiency and quality of local government operations, not for the purpose of reducing staff and organization aimed at People's Councils at all levels.
Monday,Regarding the local government's support apparatus. The policy of merging the Office of the National Assembly Delegation, the Office of the People's Council, and the Office of the Provincial People's Committee into a common advisory and support office has been stated in Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW.
Currently, 12 localities have piloted the implementation of Resolution No. 580/2018/UBTVQH14 dated October 4, 2018 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. However, there are still many shortcomings. Therefore, it is recommended that the draft Law needs to amend and supplement the provisions related to the support apparatus according to the Resolution of the Central Committee. At the same time, there are clear provisions on the organizational structure of the Office apparatus as a basis for implementing the merger in accordance with the functions and tasks of the offices.