Completion of Executive Program Listed as 'Graduate School Graduation'... Supreme Court Rules "Election Invalid"

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Supreme Court has ruled that a candidate for a regional sports association election who listed their education as 'graduate school completion' after completing an Executive MBA program at a business school constitutes grounds for election invalidation.

On the 9th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) announced that it overturned the lower court's ruling, which had dismissed the election invalidation confirmation lawsuit filed by Mr. A and others against a basic local government sports association in Gangwon Province, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Previously, Mr. A, Mr. B, and one other person ran in the 2020 sports association president election. Mr. B was elected as the new president.

However, the issue arose because Mr. B wrote his highest education level as 'graduate school completion' on the candidate registration form. It was found that he had completed the 'Executive MBA program' at a business school, which is not recognized as formal academic qualification.

The first trial court ruled that the election should be invalidated, reasoning that Mr. B had falsified his education, an important criterion for voters' decision-making, thereby influencing the votes of the electorate.

On the other hand, the second trial court judged that Mr. B's actions did not affect the election results to a significant degree. It stated that regulations or legal principles premised on public institutions or official elections cannot be directly applied to private autonomous organization elections where the president is elected by internal voting, and that academic qualifications are not essential for performing the president's duties.

However, the Supreme Court held that false academic credentials constitute grounds for invalidating candidate registration and ordered the case to be re-examined and judged. The court focused on the sports association election management regulations, which allow invalidation if significant information on the candidate registration form is falsified.

The court stated, "Allowing false statements of highest education could cause voters to make unfair judgments," and ruled that this violates the sports association election management regulations.

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