Ballot Shortage Chaos in South Korea Local Elections; Opposition Vows to Hold Officials Accountable

(CNA Reporter Yang Qifang, Seoul 3rd Special Dispatch) South Korea's local elections were held on the 3rd, with reports of ballot shortages at some polling stations in Seoul, leading to temporary voting suspensions. This resulted in some voters being unable to cast their ballots even after the official closing time, sparking public discontent. The opposition People Power Party has stated it will strictly hold those responsible accountable.

According to Yonhap News Agency, during the local elections, more than 10 polling stations in Seoul's Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu, Gwangjin-gu, and Dongjak-gu experienced ballot shortages, causing temporary voting interruptions. The Central Election Management Commission has faced external criticism for poor management. Although the voting deadline was 6:00 PM, some polling stations did not allow all voters to enter until after 7:00 PM.

Polling stations that experienced the same problem urgently issued 'substitute tickets' to identify voters. Reports indicate that substitute tickets are typically used to certify that a voter arrived at the polling station before the deadline (6:00 PM), but this time they had to be issued after the deadline as a temporary measure.

Mr. A, who retired after working at the election commission for about 30 years, said, 'Such a thing could not have happened during my tenure. Now, an absurd incident that should never have happened has occurred.' He noted that if early voting turnout is high, to save budget, sometimes only 70% of the ballots corresponding to the number of voters are printed, but in principle, 100% should be prepared.

Mr. B, a former high-ranking official of the Central Election Commission, stated that because local election turnout has historically been low, there has been a practice of not preparing 100% of ballots. 'I believe this problem was caused by this practice,' he said. There are also speculations that the large number of candidates in this local election may have led to the ballot shortage.

Park Seong-hoon, head of the Public Relations Team for the People Power Party's Central Election Countermeasures Committee, responded, 'We will seriously hold accountable the incompetent election commission that couldn't even prepare enough ballots, for this incident that deprives citizens of their right to vote and tramples on the constitutional order.'

Park criticized, 'How can any citizen accept such absurd chaos caused by the failure to properly complete even the most basic task of preparing ballots?' He also emphasized that all means and methods will be used to thoroughly investigate the cause of this incident and take all necessary measures to ensure that those responsible receive appropriate punishment. (Editor: Chen Huiping) 1150603