Police received nearly 400 reports of disturbances at and around polling stations across the country on Tuesday during the main voting day of the 9th nationwide local elections.
According to the Korean National Police Agency, a total of 399 election-related 112 emergency calls were filed nationwide between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. that day. By type, voting obstruction and disturbances topped the list with 66 cases, followed by 29 cases of traffic inconvenience and three cases of assault. Other reports, including mistaken calls, numbered 301.
In Seoul, a total of 96 reports were filed by 3 p.m. that day. At around 12:18 p.m., at a polling station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, a citizen attempted to vote again after completing the ballot, claiming to point out election fraud, and then caused a disturbance by shouting in protest. Police plan to continue their investigation.
At around 12:36 p.m. on the same day in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, a report was filed that a man in his 60s caused a disturbance by becoming irritated during the ID verification process.
At a polling station in Gangdong-gu, a woman in her 70s caused a disturbance, claiming that a signature had already been entered next to her name on the voter roll. An investigation found that an election official had mistakenly allowed another person to sign on the woman's line of the voter roll. The polling station noted the reason and continued the voting process.
Police said they will verify the facts of the reports and review whether any related laws were violated.
Meanwhile, ballot shortages occurred at multiple polling stations in Songpa-gu, Seoul, that day, causing confusion. From 1 p.m., voters were forced to wait at locations including the No. 6 polling station in Jamsil 2-dong due to a lack of ballots, and from 4:30 p.m., voting halted altogether. A significant number of voters reportedly left after waiting. Police reports related to the ballot shortage reached 14 cases.
Police issued a "Gap-ho emergency alert," the highest level of emergency duty, to police agencies nationwide that day and stepped up security for voting and ballot counting. A total of 65,369 police officers were deployed to 14,288 polling stations and 258 ballot-counting sites across the country.
