National Assembly Public Administration Committee to Receive Report on Inadequate Management of Early Voting for Confirmed Cases

Deputy Secretary-General of the Election Commission to be summoned for questioning
Both ruling and opposition parties visit Election Commission to protest

On the afternoon of the 5th, officials are opening the out-of-district ballot boxes at the early voting station set up at Seoul Station. 2022.3.5 [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee announced on the 6th that it will receive a briefing on current issues to hold the Central Election Commission accountable for its poor management of early voting for COVID-19 confirmed cases.

From 4 p.m. that day, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties will receive a report from Park Chan-jin, Deputy Secretary-General of the Election Commission, in the Public Administration and Security Committee's small conference room. The Election Commission plans to focus on reporting the results of a full investigation into the poor management of early voting and the measures for the main voting day (the 9th).

Earlier, both ruling and opposition parties visited the Election Commission in protest to urge countermeasures. Baek Hye-ryun, chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party's Election Countermeasures Committee, stated, "There were only voting booths for confirmed and quarantined voters, but overall preparations to proceed with the voting process were insufficient. Due to regulations requiring only one ballot box per polling station, the sacred voting rights of the sovereign people were placed in trash bags, among other issues." She added, "A full investigation at the Election Commission level was initially conducted, and a face-to-face public apology was accepted."

Lee Young, a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, wrote on his Facebook, "It is truly regrettable that the Election Commission's complacent response claims this incident was simply a mistake by a staff member." He criticized, "When questioned multiple times about the management of voting for confirmed cases, they said there was no problem, but ultimately, poor management betrayed the public's trust."

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