[Bbanggubneun Tajagi] If There Is a Tie in the Next Presidential Election, Will the Democratic Party Candidate Win?

New Release 'Korean Political History Through Elections'

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] It is truly the season of elections. The lineup of preliminary candidates from each political party who will run in the 20th presidential election scheduled for March 9, 2022, is gradually being revealed to the public. According to the trends in polls for the next presidential candidates, a certain opposition party figure shows overwhelming support but quickly reverses, with the lead changing back and forth. Expectations are already building on how fiercely this election will unfold.

Elections are often called the "flower of democracy." This is because every citizen, regardless of wealth or power, is given an equal "one vote" to directly choose the subject who will decide the nation's major affairs. From another perspective, elections are like war. It is a zero-sum game where winners and losers are clearly divided. Regardless of its nature, democracy cannot be realized without elections.

Since establishing democracy, South Korea has held numerous elections. From the Constituent Assembly election in May 1948 to the 21st general election in April 2020, over 72 years, there have been 19 presidential elections, 21 National Assembly elections, and 7 local elections. Considering the cycles of presidential and general elections, as well as by-elections and supplementary elections, it is no exaggeration to say that elections have been held almost every year.

How have elections changed Korean political history? The new book "Korean Political History Read Through Elections" introduces various episodes and meaningful records centered on elections held in Korea. Rather than simply listing voter turnout, vote shares, winners, and losers, it provides the modern historical context and various data related to elections to stimulate interest.

The author of this book, Kim Hyun-sung, also points out the "vote manipulation allegations" that inevitably arise after every election in Korea. The criticism is that those who raise manipulation suspicions are always the losing side and that their claims are filled with prejudice and conspiracy theories rather than rational reasoning.

In the April 15 general election held last year, some defeated opposition candidates filed lawsuits to invalidate votes and recently conducted recounts. Conspiracy theories spread on social networking services (SNS) claimed that early voting was manipulated because the voting equipment was made by the Chinese company Huawei or that the National Election Commission embedded voters' personal information in QR codes. However, the opposition did not raise any election fraud suspicions when they won the April 7 by-election held this year using the same National Election Commission system and vote counting process.

The ruling party was the same. After losing the 18th presidential election, pro-government broadcaster Kim Eo-jun even released a documentary film about the so-called "secret of K-value 1.5," raising manipulation allegations. However, after winning the 19th presidential election, they did not utter a single word about manipulation. According to analysis data from Newstapa, the K-values of the two presidential elections were almost identical.

What is the smallest margin of defeat in Korean election history? The answer is zero votes. In the first local election in 1995, candidates Ko Seo-im and Yoon Sang-ok, who ran for the Shinan County Council in Jeollanam-do, both received 379 votes. Although the votes were tied, the older candidate Yoon was declared the winner. Similarly, in the same election, candidates Kim Gi-tong and Lee Myung, who ran for the Tongyeong City Council in Gyeongsangnam-do, both received 1,050 votes, but the elder Kim was elected. According to the Public Official Election Act, if two or more candidates receive the highest number of votes in elections for local government heads, district National Assembly members, or local council members, the elder candidate is declared the winner. In the case of a tie in a presidential election, the final winner is decided by a vote in the National Assembly with a quorum of more than half of the members present.

Since the introduction of the election expense limit system in 1958, who is the candidate who spent the most on election expenses? It was Moon Jae-in, then the Democratic United Party candidate in the 18th presidential election in 2012. He spent 50,087,140,000 KRW. On the other hand, the candidate who spent the least election expenses was Jang Yi-seok of the New Progressive Party, who ran in the 5th presidential election in 1963. He spent 134,000 KRW.

There have been 13 cases where the outcome was reversed by just one vote. One candidate even experienced the drama of losing and winning by one vote in two different elections. In the 3rd local election held in 2002, Kwak Ho-jong of the Hannara Party ran for the Chungju City Council and lost by just one vote. Coincidentally, he won by one vote in the 4th local election held four years later.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.