The National Election Commission said Wednesday it will form a fact-finding committee involving outside experts to investigate the cause of a ballot paper shortage that occurred at some polling stations in Seoul on June 3, the voting day for the June 3 local elections.
"We repeatedly apologize for causing significant confusion and inconvenience to voters in exercising their voting rights," the commission said. "We will establish and operate a fact-finding committee composed mainly of outside experts to identify the cause of the ballot shortage and to prepare measures to prevent recurrence."
In a plenary meeting held early Wednesday, the commission decided to immediately prepare a fact-finding investigation and recurrence prevention measures regarding the incident as soon as the local election ballot counting concluded. Following this decision, the commission plans to analyze voting records at the affected polling stations and verify the on-site situation at the time from voting managers and staff.
The commission also said it would disclose all results in detail once the fact-finding committee identifies the problems, causes, and where responsibility lies.
Meanwhile, on the afternoon of June 3, prepared ballot papers ran out at some polling stations in Songpa-gu, Seoul, leaving some voters who had come to vote unable to do so. Some voters raised allegations of election fraud and demanded a re-vote, blocking the transfer of the ballot box from the No. 2 polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, to the counting station. As a result, the confirmation of winners in the Seoul and Songpa-gu electoral districts has been delayed.
The commission said, "We are persuading the citizens at the polling station, citing that the ballot box must be opened to determine the elected candidate in the relevant district and that the inconvenience to nearby residents must be resolved promptly." The commission plans to move the ballot box to the Songpa-gu Election Commission's counting station as soon as the transfer becomes possible and proceed with counting under the observation of vote-counting observers. Once counting is complete, the elected candidate can be confirmed.
