People Power Party's Public Administration Committee Member: "Kwon Soon-il Should Step Back from Election Commission Personnel and Resign Immediately"

Kwon Soon-il, Chairman of the Central Election Commission, is attending the full committee meeting at the Central Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 13th to discuss the approval of the use of proportional party names, and is striking the gavel. / Gwacheon = Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] On the 8th, members of the People Power Party's Administrative Safety Committee urged Kwon Soon-il, Chairman of the Central Election Commission, to "stop interfering in the Election Commission's personnel matters and resign immediately."

The committee members issued a statement saying, "Although Chairman Kwon's term as a Supreme Court Justice ended on the 7th, he reportedly plans to continue holding the chairman position. This seriously undermines the political neutrality of the Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional institution," criticizing him accordingly.

They fiercely condemned, "Chairman Kwon is said to be planning to intervene in the senior personnel appointments of the Election Commission scheduled for the 21st. This is a shameless act."

The committee members stated, "Previous chairmen have resigned from their chairman positions immediately upon retiring as Supreme Court Justices unless there were special reasons such as managing imminent major elections. Since the constitutional status of a Supreme Court Justice guarantees political neutrality, it is only natural to resign from the chairman position once that status is lost," adding, "However, Chairman Kwon is openly rejecting the precedent upheld by previous chairmen."

They continued, "The senior officials of the Election Commission, whose personnel appointments Chairman Kwon will exercise authority over, will manage the upcoming Seoul mayoral and Busan mayoral by-elections next year, as well as the 2022 presidential and local elections," and sharpened their criticism by asking, "Can the public trust the officials appointed by a chairman who managed the worst election administration in history, with election lawsuits increasing more than tenfold and evidence preservation requests increasing more than thirtyfold?"

The Administrative Safety Committee members concluded, "A chairman who should resign interfering in Election Commission personnel matters is a regression against the development of the state and constitutional institutions and an unfortunate matter for the public," urging, "Chairman Kwon, whose justification for neutrality and independence has ended, should resign immediately and conclude his public service honorably."

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