Unprecedented 'Ballot Shortage' Investigation... Police to Question Complainants on the 8th

Some Predict a Compulsory Investigation is Unavoidable
Police Begin Legal Review of the 'Unprecedented Situation'

The police have launched an investigation into the National Election Commission, which triggered an unprecedented situation in which some polling stations ran out of ballots during the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections. Some observers predict that a compulsory investigation will be inevitable.

According to the police on June 5, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Unit is scheduled to question the Seomin People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee (Seominwi) at around 9:30 a.m. on June 8, regarding their complaint accusing senior officials of the Election Commission of dereliction of duty and other charges.

As the vote counting is underway for the ballot box at the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, where a shortage of ballots occurred, protesters claiming election fraud are demanding a halt to the counting in front of the Handball Stadium at Olympic Park on the 5th. Yonhap News Agency

Seominwi filed a police complaint against Noh Tae-ak, Chairperson of the National Election Commission, Heo Cheol-hoon, Secretary General, Oh Min-seok, Chairperson of the Seoul Election Commission, and Kim Beom-jin, Secretary General of the Seoul Election Commission, for abuse of authority and dereliction of duty on the day of the main vote. On the previous day, they submitted an additional complaint for embezzlement and breach of duty in the course of work. Six other organizations, including the Speculation Watch Capital Center, National Coalition, Justice Coalition, and the Mugunghwa Club for Rule of Law and Democratization, also filed similar complaints with the National Office of Investigation at the National Police Agency via the public petition portal. These groups named all eight central election commissioners as targets of their complaints.

The police are currently focusing on reviewing legal precedents and conducting legal analysis at the early stage of the investigation. This is because it is the first time that such a situation, where ballots ran out due to a failure in election demand forecasting, has occurred.

As calls for accountability from the Election Commission spread, there are growing expectations that a search and seizure will be unavoidable. The police plan to first secure materials and question relevant personnel to determine whether the Election Commission's standards for distributing ballots were properly followed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.