The anger of the younger generation protesting the "ballot paper fiasco" in the June 3 local elections is spreading to university campuses nationwide. On June 10, the 39th anniversary of the June 10 Democratic Uprising, student councils at 18 major universities across the country issued manifestos condemning the damage to electoral fairness and the infringement of voting rights, holding rallies one after another. The younger generation's anger, triggered by the violation of voting rights, is evolving into calls that point out the problems of the existing political system and demand procedural fairness for the realization of democracy. The fact that the 2030 generation, burdened by accumulated social grievances such as political distrust, economic deprivation, and generational conflict, is voluntarily participating in rallies to express their political will is by no means something to be taken lightly.
Public sentiment, not just that of the younger generation, is also ominous. In a recent opinion poll, public distrust of the National Election Commission reached 70 percent. The biggest cause of this incident has been identified as the election commission's complacent administrative convenience and its habitual presumption of voter turnout. The National Election Commission was found to have lowered the ballot paper printing ratio for this local election from 60 percent to 50 percent, processing it without an official meeting through the sole discretion of two internal officials, including the secretary-general. This is the result of accumulated ills at the election commission over the past decade, including the so-called "basket voting" incident and the controversy over preferential hiring of senior officials' children. This is why calls are growing to clarify the truth of the poor poll management without leaving a shred of doubt and to launch a "dissolution-level" sweeping reform of the election commission, which has damaged the public's voting rights.
Despite the situation, the ruling and opposition parties have only revealed opposing views on the method of investigation—"parliamentary inquiry" versus "special prosecutor." Some in political circles are clouding the essence of the matter by raising claims for a re-election even before the cause has been identified. A joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters has been launched and the election commission's "fact-finding committee" has also begun its activities, but if these are insufficient to dispel public suspicion, there is no reason not to mobilize stronger measures. If political circles approach this incident with political calculation and paper over it with stopgap measures, distrust in elections and the anger of the younger generation will only grow. The government and political circles must mobilize all possible means to clearly determine the truth and where responsibility lies, leaving not a shred of doubt. After the truth is established, they must also accelerate a sweeping reform of the election commission to the level of organizational dissolution.
