State auditor considering accounting audit of election watchdog over ballot shortages
The National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Monday / Yonhap
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) is considering conducting a financial audit of the embattled National Election Commission (NEC) that has been under massive criticism over ballot shortages in the June 3 local elections, sources said Tuesday.
The state auditor is cautiously weighing the accounting audit option, while monitoring the progress of joint police and prosecution investigations, as well as a parliamentary probe, the sources said.
The election watchdog is an independent constitutional organization that is not subject to a full-fledged performance audit, a measure aimed at shielding the agency from political influence. But an accounting audit is deemed permissible because it carries no political implications.
Should an accounting audit happen, it is expected to focus on whether the budget for printing ballot papers was appropriately allocated and executed. It could also help determine where the responsibilities lie for the shortages.
"We're monitoring the situation while looking into various possibilities," a BAI official said.
Calls have been mounting for the NEC's dismantlement in the wake of the unprecedented ballot shortages. The lack of voting papers led to the temporary suspension of voting at 26 polling stations, and some voters reportedly went home without casting their ballots, an outcome that critics argue seriously compromised the procedural legitimacy of the election.
The election watchdog has apologized, saying it failed to print enough ballot papers due to an incorrect prediction of voter turnout. However, it has maintained that the ballot shortages neither warrant a rerun nor altered the election results.