Assemblyman Kang Myunggu Proposes "Incompetent Election Commission Must Be Overhauled from the Ground Up"... Introduces Election Commission Reorganization Bill

Abolishing District, City, County, and Local Election Commissions

"Addressing the Lack of Accountability Hidden Behind Independence"

Kang Myung-gu, a member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party (Gumi City, Gyeongbuk), has taken concrete steps to reform the structure of the National Election Commission by proposing the so-called “Election Commission Reorganization Bill,” which aims to abolish lower-level organizations of the Election Commission and restructure its functions around the Central and Provincial Election Commissions.

On June 23, Assemblyman Kang held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office and announced that he had sponsored a partial amendment to the Election Commission Act, which includes provisions to abolish the District/City/County Election Commissions as well as the Town/Township/Neighborhood Election Commissions.

People Power Party member of the National Assembly Myunggu Kang (Gumi, Gyeongbuk) held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office.
[Photo by the office of the lawmaker]

The proposed amendment focuses on streamlining the current multi-layered organizational structure—which currently consists of the Central Election Commission, Provincial Election Commissions, District/City/County Election Commissions, and Town/Township/Neighborhood Election Commissions—and consolidating election management functions within the Central and Provincial Election Commissions. The goal is to operate election management capabilities more efficiently and to clarify lines of responsibility.

Assemblyman Kang pointed out the limitations of the current organizational structure by referencing recent controversies at the Election Commission, such as irregularities in budget execution, hiring corruption, poor management of election equipment, and errors in inputting ballot counting results.

He particularly cited the shortage of ballots and vote-counting errors that occurred during the local elections on June 3 as evidence that a comprehensive structural reform of the election management system is necessary.

He stated, “The fundamental purpose of the Election Commission is to manage every citizen’s vote fairly. If it cannot properly carry out even the most basic election management tasks, then the entire organization must be fundamentally redesigned.”

He added, “The constitutional status of the Election Commission as an independent body must not serve as a shield for incompetence. Instead of resorting to makeshift solutions for recurring problems in every election, we must transition to a responsible structure.”

Assemblyman Kang emphasized, “This amendment marks the starting point for structural reform of the Election Commission. I will see the reform through to the end in order to establish an election management system that the public can trust.”

While this bold move aims to resolve ongoing controversies over election management through organizational restructuring, striking a balance between the independence and efficiency of the Election Commission is expected to be the central issue during the legislative process.

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