The Election Commission May File a Jurisdictional Dispute Petition with the Board of Audit and Inspection as Early as This Week

Regarding the Legitimacy of the Board of Audit and Inspection's Duty Inspection on the National Election Commission

The National Election Commission (NEC) will file a constitutional dispute adjudication with the Constitutional Court as early as this week to challenge the legitimacy of the Board of Audit and Inspection's (BAI) on-site inspection of the NEC.

An NEC official told Asia Economy on the 26th, "We will submit the petition for constitutional dispute adjudication to the Constitutional Court as early as this week, or at the latest next week."

The Constitutional Court Act stipulates that a petition for constitutional dispute adjudication must be filed within 60 days from the date the reason for the dispute is known. Accordingly, the NEC plans to submit the petition this week or next week, before the 60-day deadline from the NEC’s announcement of its intention to file the petition on the 2nd of last month.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, when the BAI announced plans for an on-site inspection regarding allegations of preferential hiring of executives' children, the NEC rejected it. After public criticism against the NEC intensified, on the 2nd of last month, the NEC expressed willingness to partially accept the audit limited to the preferential hiring allegations and announced its intention to file a constitutional dispute adjudication with the Constitutional Court.

At that time, the NEC stated, "It is not in line with the constitutional spirit that defines the NEC as an independent constitutional institution for an executive branch-affiliated audit agency to audit the NEC’s inherent duties. It is undesirable for the BAI and the NEC to appear to be in dispute over the scope of the audit of the NEC," emphasizing, "To clarify this, we are filing a constitutional dispute adjudication with the Constitutional Court, which holds the final authority on constitutional interpretation."

On the other hand, the BAI countered, "The scope of the audit is a matter to be decided by the BAI."

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