Five Residents Secretly Proxy Voted... Gyeongbuk Gunwi Village Chief Ultimately Arrested

The village chief of Gunwi-gun was arrested after denying allegations of secretly casting proxy votes on behalf of residents during the June 1 local election absentee voting.

[Asia Economy Reporter Intern Lee Gyehwa] A village chief in Gunwi-gun was arrested after denying allegations that he secretly cast proxy votes for residents during the June 1 local elections absentee voting.

The Gunwi Police Station in Gyeongsangbuk-do arrested Mr. A, a village chief in his 60s from Uiheung-myeon, Gunwi-gun, on the 1st for allegedly casting proxy absentee votes without the knowledge of the villagers (violation of the Public Official Election Act).

The police reapplied for an arrest warrant after the court dismissed the initial warrant application for Mr. A on the 28th of last month and conducted a reinvestigation.

The Uiseong Branch of the Daegu District Court issued the warrant on the 1st during the warrant hearing (pre-arrest suspect interrogation), citing concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk.

Previously, at the first warrant hearing held on the 29th of last month, the arrest warrant was dismissed because Mr. A admitted to the charges. At that time, the court believed there was no risk of flight or evidence destruction since Mr. A acknowledged the crime.

However, despite Mr. A admitting to the charges again during the warrant hearing on this day, the arrest warrant was issued.

This was reportedly because Mr. A showed inconsistent behavior by denying the charges again during police questioning after the first hearing.

Mr. A is suspected of arbitrarily registering five residents, including an octogenarian Mr. B, as absentee voters and secretly casting proxy votes on their behalf, then sending the ballots to the election commission.

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