[Inside Chodong] A Full Democracy and Garbage Bags

After many twists and turns, the 20th presidential election has come to an end. Early voting turnout reached an all-time high, and the final turnout approached 80%, reflecting the intense public interest. Elections are often called the flower of democracy. It is not an exaggeration to say that the measure of democracy corresponds to a country's election culture. How mature is South Korea's democracy after holding the 2022 presidential election? Coincidentally, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a research institute under the British economic weekly The Economist, recently released its annual “Democracy Index,” which evaluates over 160 countries worldwide. It assesses five areas: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties, scoring each country and classifying them into four types based on their scores. Scores of 8 or above out of 10 are classified as “full democracies,” 6 to 8 as “flawed democracies,” 4 to 6 as “hybrid regimes,” and below 4 as “authoritarian regimes.”

According to this survey, only 21 out of 167 countries, or 6.4% of the global population, are classified as “full democracies.” Nordic countries such as Norway (9.75 points), which ranked first, New Zealand (9.37 points), and Finland (9.27 points) occupied the top ranks. On the other hand, countries like Afghanistan (0.32 points), where the Taliban regained power, and Myanmar (1.02 points), which fell under military rule after a coup, were at the bottom. South Korea ranked 16th with 8.16 points. Considering the average score of 5.28 among surveyed countries, this is a relatively high figure. Japan (8.15 points) was just below at 17th place, and the United States (7.85 points), often regarded as a model democracy, ranked lower at 26th. As citizens of South Korea, classified as a “full democracy,” there is reason to feel proud.

However, allegations of fraudulent voting during this presidential election dampened voters’ pride. During the two days of early voting on the 4th and 5th, ballots cast by confirmed COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine were not directly placed into ballot boxes by the voters themselves; instead, election officials collected these ballots separately, raising concerns about fairness. The containers used to hold ballots varied widely at each polling station, including delivery boxes, shopping bags, and plastic baskets. Shockingly, even garbage bags were used. Without lids, ballots sometimes spilled, and there were absurd incidents where ballots already marked for candidates were redistributed to other voters. This farce, caused by the absence of standardized procedures, was nothing short of a comedy. In some polling stations, ballot boxes were stored in areas hidden from CCTV, inviting controversy over election fraud. On the 9th, during the main voting day, there was an incident where a voter who had already voted early was issued another ballot and voted again. It is hard to believe such incidents occurred in South Korea, which has boasted the world’s best voting system since the Central Election Management Committee was established 62 years ago.

The National Election Commission (NEC) is an independent constitutional institution established to ensure the fair management of national elections. The fact that the chairperson of the NEC is guaranteed the status equivalent to the heads of the five branches of government underscores the importance and fairness required in election management. However, by neglecting its responsibilities, the NEC sowed distrust and division among the public and provided political circles with grounds for election contestation. Now that the presidential election is over, there is no need to emphasize the necessity of a thorough investigation, punishment of those responsible, and measures to prevent recurrence. This is essential to protect the voting rights, which are both a fundamental right and duty of the people, and to uphold the trust and expectations for fair and stable election management. It is even more critical because these incidents have tarnished the reputation of a country and its citizens rated as a “full democracy.”

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