"Will the June Local Elections Also Be a 'Basket Election'? NEC Accountability Debate Continues After Presidential Race"

Controversy Over "Mismanaged Election" in Early Voting for COVID-19 Patients
NEC Faces Criticism Amid Established Precedents from 2020 General and 2021 By-elections
Calls for Preventive Measures Ahead of June Local Elections
National Assembly Proposes "Basket Ballot Box Prevention Act" Banning Use of Non-Ballot Containers at Polling Stations

On the last day of early voting, the 5th, a paper box containing ballots for confirmed patients and quarantined individuals prepared by an early voting station in Haeundae District, Busan.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy, Park Hyunju] The 20th presidential election ended with the victory of Yoon Suk-yeol, the candidate of the People Power Party. According to exit polls, the race was extremely close with Lee Jae-myung, the candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, making it a nail-biting election for voters. Some have even called it a "historic match" of a presidential election. However, responsibility for the National Election Commission (NEC), which managed the presidential voting process, continues to be a subject of debate. There are also concerns that such controversies must not be repeated with the local elections scheduled for June 1.

This presidential election was held over two days of early voting on the 4th and 5th, with the main voting taking place on the 9th. The total voter turnout was 77.1%, which is 0.1 percentage points lower than the 77.2% turnout in the 19th presidential election. The early voting turnout reached a record high of 36.93%.

While the high turnout is encouraging, the management of voters during the election was inadequate. The controversy arose during early voting for confirmed COVID-19 patients. The NEC had COVID-19 patients vote at temporary polling booths and then hand their ballots to election staff. However, at some polling stations, the ballots from confirmed patients were stored in shopping bags, paper boxes, or plastic baskets. This appears to have been intended as a temporary measure to store ballots from confirmed patients before transferring them to ballot boxes later, in accordance with the current Public Official Election Act, which prohibits using two ballot boxes in a single polling district at the same time.

However, criticism erupted over the risk of undermining election fairness due to the improper storage of ballots. On March 7, Kim Gi-hyeon, floor leader of the People Power Party, appeared on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show" and called for the resignation of Noh Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the NEC, saying, "How can you throw the sacred sovereignty of the people into a ramen box?"

On the same day, Lee Nak-yon, chief campaign manager for the Democratic Party, also criticized the NEC during a campaign meeting, stating, "As the world's 16th largest democracy and Asia's number one, and as a model country for COVID-19 response, this is a disgrace," and added, "The NEC should come up with definite improvement measures and seek the understanding and forgiveness of the people."

Even considering that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded 300,000, the NEC is unlikely to avoid criticism, given that there were already precedents for elections under COVID-19 conditions, such as the 2020 general election and the April 2021 by-elections for Seoul and Busan mayors.

As the controversy grew, the NEC issued an apology. On March 8, Noh Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the NEC, delivered a public statement, saying, "We deeply feel responsible and apologize for the confusion and inconvenience caused by our insufficient preparation," and added, "We thank the voters who participated in the election despite the difficulties of being confirmed with COVID-19, and once again apologize to those who experienced inconvenience and confusion, as well as to those who worked hard at the polling stations." She also stated, "We will treat each and every precious vote, reflecting the will of the people, with the utmost care, and manage the voting and counting process more transparently and accurately."

On the 9th, the 20th presidential election day, COVID-19 positive voters are casting their precious votes at Yeomridong No. 2 polling station set up at Hanseo Elementary School in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

However, criticism of the NEC intensified further as there were additional incidents, such as voters being deprived of their voting rights or early voters receiving ballots again on the main voting day. On March 7, a petition was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board titled "The National Election Commission must reflect on the controversy over the mismanaged election."

The petitioner stated, "Elections, the flower of democracy, must be conducted in a more systematic and solemn manner," and criticized, "The NEC should have prevented all of these (mismanaged election) controversies in advance. That is their duty." The petitioner further pointed out, "Despite COVID-19 persisting for over two years, the NEC neglected to prepare measures for voting by confirmed patients," and called for the NEC to reflect on its actions.

Civic groups also demanded measures to prevent a recurrence from the NEC. On March 7, organizations such as the Citizens' Coalition for Fair Elections held a press conference, stating, "We condemn the NEC for the controversy over poor management of early voting for COVID-19 confirmed and quarantined individuals," and questioned, "We want to ask the NEC what preparations it made over the past two years regarding the public distrust and confusion that occurred during early voting."

On the same day, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy also issued a statement, saying, "The COVID-19 situation is not an unprecedented event for this presidential election. The cause of this situation lies in the NEC's complacent judgment and response to early voting by confirmed patients," and insisted, "Even after the election, those responsible at the NEC who infringed upon voters' rights to participate in the election through complacent decisions and responses regarding early voting by confirmed patients should be held accountable."

Meanwhile, the political sphere has also proposed alternatives to prevent a recurrence of such "mismanagement incidents." On March 7, Song Seok-jun, a member of the People Power Party, announced that he had proposed the "Basket Ballot Box Prevention Act," which would impose a prison sentence of up to five years for using any equipment other than sealed ballot boxes at polling stations.

The amendment imposes an obligation on election officials not to hand over marked ballots, and stipulates that if election officials, including those affiliated with the NEC, hand over marked ballots for the purpose of ballot forgery or alteration, the aggravated penalty provisions for ballot forgery or alteration crimes will apply, resulting in imprisonment for not less than three years and up to ten years.

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