The Board of Audit and Inspection has begun an on-site audit of the National Election Commission, the board said Friday.
The financial audit targets the National Election Commission and the regional election commissions of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Busan. A first-stage audit will run through the 24th, followed by a second-stage audit lasting 14 days. The audit covers 12 items across two areas. In the area of election budget planning and execution, these include the planning and execution of ballot paper printing budgets, ballot paper printing contracts, election-related allowances, the operation of the fair election support team, execution of daily wages for fixed-term workers, purchase and management of election supplies, building leases, overseas Korean voter management expenses and allowance payments, estimates of election expenditure needs including labor costs and related budget adjustments, private contracting, and official overseas business trips and travel expense execution.
The board said it will carefully review and decide whether to launch an audit, as well as its scope and timing, on matters related to ballot paper printing, taking into account the investigation by the joint police-prosecution task force and the parliamentary inquiry.
A 42-member audit team, led by the director general of the Administrative and Safety Audit Bureau, has been formed for the first-stage audit. Based on the first-stage audit, the board will decide whether to expand the audit targets and personnel for the second stage. Since late last month, the board has deployed about 30 people to prepare for the audit of the election commission's financial affairs and collect related materials. It aims to announce the final audit results before October.
"The need for reform of the election commission and external audits has been raised through critical media coverage," the board said. "By reviewing the election commission, which has not undergone a financial audit since the regular audit of the National Election Commission in 2022, the board will prepare measures to resolve public suspicions."
