ED Crisis of confidence at NEC
Citizens call for a rerun of elections at Seoul Olympic Park in Songpa District, June 7. Yonhap
Election watchdog must be reformed to obtain public trust
Olympic Park in southeastern Seoul’s affluent Songpa District has become the epicenter of democratic activism. Tens of thousands of voters, around 40 percent of them millennials and Generation Z, have gathered there every day since Thursday, the day after the June 3 local elections, demanding a rerun of the Seoul mayoral election.
Their collective action followed a shortage of ballot papers at a polling station in Songpa District, where voters were forced to wait in long lines and cast their ballots after the official voting deadline. Some returned home without voting, while others waited until as late as 10 p.m. to cast their ballots, four hours after the scheduled closing time. The extended voting hours, conducted without prior notice, sparked outrage.
Compounding the problem, exit poll results were released at 6 p.m. by the three major broadcasting networks — KBS, SBS and MBC — while voting was still underway in Songpa. As a result, some voters cast their ballots after becoming aware of the projected outcomes. This constituted a serious breach of election law, which prohibits media organizations and pollsters from releasing opinion poll results taken during the final week leading up to Election Day to prevent undecided and swing voters from being influenced by such information.
The National Election Commission (NEC) has come under intense scrutiny. Critics contend that the commission failed to take adequate measures to inform broadcasters of the ongoing voting delays or request that exit poll results be withheld until after voting had concluded.
As a result of these missteps, the NEC has drawn criticism for its poor handling of the election process. Previous complaints about election administration have often come from losing candidates and parties. But now the criticism has crossed partisan lines.
Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, chairman of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), sharply criticized the NEC over the ballot shortages. At a press conference on Sunday, he argued that voters’ rights had been seriously compromised and that a redo of the local elections was therefore unavoidable. Jang also called for the abolition of early voting, citing an unspecified public opinion survey that reportedly found nearly half of respondents lacked confidence in the system. His remarks reflected a broader debate over voting patterns observed since 2020, in which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has consistently performed strongly in early voting while the conservative PPP has fared better in Election Day voting.
Some DPK lawmakers also criticized the NEC. Rep. Choi Min-hee wrote on social media that a revote was necessary, though only in the affected regions. Another DPK lawmaker, Rep. Park Sun-won, expressed a similar view. Park criticized the NEC for the ballot shortages, arguing that the commission should have been fully prepared given that the total number of registered voters was known.
President Lee Jae Myung expressed “deep regret” over what he described as an infringement on voters’ rights. In a social media post on Sunday, Lee said the NEC had caused significant disruptions to citizens’ ability to exercise their right to choose their representatives. He called on the National Assembly to launch an investigation into the incident and directed prosecutors and police to conduct a joint probe.
His response was timely. To demonstrate that he takes the situation very seriously, Lee should address the issue formally at a Cabinet meeting and directly instruct the heads of the prosecution service and the National Police Agency to begin a thorough investigation.
The nation should also pay close attention to concerns raised by Yoo Jeong-bok, mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City, during a press conference on Sunday.
Yoo lost to DPK candidate Park Chan-dae, a close ally of President Lee, in the June 3 elections. The election results revealed a striking pattern: Yoo’s strong performance in Election Day voting was offset by weaker results in early voting. In Songdo 1-dong, for example, Yoo received 7,692 Election Day votes compared with Park’s 5,139. In early voting, however, Yoo received 1,440 votes while Park secured 3,030.
Yoo pointed to an unusual result. In Songdo 2-dong, the two candidates reportedly received the exact same number of early votes as they had in Songdo 1-dong: 1,440 for Yoo and 3,030 for Park. Yoo argued that receiving identical vote totals in two separate districts with different numbers of eligible voters was highly unusual and warranted closer examination.
Yet the NEC rebuffed the claim, attributing the same numbers to coincidence, not tally error.
The NEC is no stranger to controversy. In recent years, it has faced criticism over cybersecurity vulnerabilities and ballot handling.
The National Assembly should conduct its own investigation of the NEC in addition to the prosecution-police joint inquiry. It should examine not only the commission’s actions but also the broader electoral process — from voting and ballot counting to the certification and announcement of results — to ensure that citizens’ votes are accurately recorded and reflected. The current crisis presents an opportunity to review and strengthen the nation’s electoral system.