By Lee Hyo-sik
The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the current Election Law prohibiting pre-election campaigning via Twitter and other social networking services (SNS) was unconstitutional.
Its ruling paved the way for SNS users to freely express their views on certain political parties and candidates in next year’s general and presidential elections.
The ruling is widely expected to provide a boost to liberal camp candidates as most SNS users are in their 20s and 30s and progressively minded.
Six of the court’s justices ruled against Clause 93 of the law, with two ruling in favor.
The clause forbids the public posting of advertisements, posters, photos, documents and other material, which support or oppose certain political parties and candidates for 180 days leading up to elections.
The National Election Commission (NEC) had said it would crack down on SNS electioneering, saying it was subject to the regulation, citing “other material” in Clause 93 as the base for the restrictions on Twitter.
Those who violate the law could have faced up to two years in jail or a maximum 4-million won fine.
“The Internet is open to everyone and electioneering in cyberspace is virtually costless. So, restricting online campaigning does not serve the purpose of the Election Law, which is supposed to bridge the gap in election campaigns between rich and poor candidates,” the court said in its ruling.
It also said the law overly restricts fundamental human rights.
“Banning people from expressing their views on the Internet for such a long period of time deprives them of opportunities to criticize policies of the government and political parties,” it said. “This clearly weakens the principles of the parliamentary system that realizes party politics and responsible politics.”
In March, Rep. Chung Dong-young of the main opposition Democratic Unity Party, together with 146 other lawmakers and citizens, filed a petition with the court, arguing prohibiting pre-election campaigning through SNS was unconstitutional.
The lawmaker claimed the NEC’s interpretation of “other material” was too broad and vague so that its decision to crack down on SNS electioneering infringed upon the freedom of expression.
Both governing and opposition parties hailed the court’s ruling.
The Grand National Party said the government should act fast to scrap regulations hampering freedom of expression in cyberspace.
The opposition Democratic Unity Party said the government and GNP should reflect on the latest ruling and do more to promote exchanges of various views on the Internet.
The Voters’ Freedom Network, consisting of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and 51 other progressive civic groups, welcomed the Constitutional Court’s decision, saying the current Election Law severely violates voters’ rights to free expression.
The court’s ruling came weeks after the prosecution said it would investigate Kim Je-dong, a popular TV personality, for a violation of the law by posting messages calling for his followers to exercise their voting rights in the Seoul mayoral elections in October. The investigation was ignited by a complaint filed by a citizen against the entertainer.
In the complaint, the citizen alleged that as the public know who the entertainer will vote for, he should not post messages encouraging voters to cast ballots.