'Poor Management of Early Voting' No Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the Election Commission, Investigated by Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Public Investigation Division 1 Assignment

No Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the National Election Commission. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will investigate the case involving No Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the National Election Commission, who was accused of mismanaging the early voting process for the 20th presidential election.

According to the prosecution on the 10th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Choi Chang-min) has been assigned to review the case against Chairperson No, who was reported for violations of the Public Official Election Act and abuse of authority.

Earlier, the civic group Action Alliance for Upholding the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 7th, accusing No Jeong-hee, Secretary-General Kim Se-hwan, and other election commission officials of abuse of authority, neglect of duty, and violations of the Public Official Election Act. The complaint was based on the chaotic management of early voting for COVID-19 confirmed and quarantined voters, which allegedly violated the Constitution and laws.

At the time, Beopse-ryeon pointed out, “Preventing confirmed and self-quarantined voters from directly placing their ballots into the ballot box and requiring them to submit ballots to a third-party election worker clearly violates Article 157, Paragraph 4 of the Public Official Election Act, which states that 'ballots must be folded after marking so that the contents are not visible to others and placed into the ballot box in front of election observers.' Additionally, transporting ballots in unsealed paper boxes, shopping bags, or garbage bags to the ballot box violates Article 167, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, which guarantees the secrecy of voting.”

They added, “The fact that voters could not directly place their ballots into the ballot box is an unprecedented constitutional crisis in the history of the Republic, a grave constitutional violation unimaginable in a democratic country. Given that the National Assembly had already foreseen this situation and that the issue could have been prevented by clearly separating voting times for confirmed and non-confirmed voters during early voting, the Election Commission’s complacent and incompetent response bears significant responsibility.”

On the 6th, the Committee for the Protection of the Common People also filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against Chairperson No for abuse of authority, coercion, neglect of duty, and violations of the Constitution and the Public Official Election Act.

The early voting for confirmed and self-quarantined voters conducted on the 5th involved voters receiving ballots and envelopes, voting in a separate location, placing the ballots into envelopes, and then handing them to election assistants.

During this process, ballots were carelessly stored in shopping bags or baskets, and there were cases where ballots marked for specific candidates were distributed, leading to numerous complaints and protests across various locations.

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