Constitutional Court Rules Unconstitutional Ban and Punishment on Election Campaigning by Full-Time Employees of Local Public Corporations

Constitutional Court: "Side effects and harms cannot be seen as greater than those of private company employees"
Dissenting opinion: "Difficult to view impact on election fairness as less than that of private company employees"

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the former Public Official Election Act provision prohibiting full-time employees of local public corporations from engaging in election campaigning and punishing those who violate it is unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Lee Jong-seok and the justices of the Constitutional Court are seated in the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 25th for the constitutional complaint ruling.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 25th, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the former Public Official Election Act Article 60, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 5, which banned election campaigning by full-time employees of local public corporations and punished violations, in a constitutional review case with a 7 (unconstitutional) to 2 (constitutional) decision by the justices.

The petitioners are full-time employees of Ansan Urban Corporation, who, despite being full-time employees of local public corporations under the Local Public Enterprises Act, were prosecuted for violating the Public Official Election Act by engaging in election campaigning. Subsequently, they requested a constitutional review of the provisions of the Public Official Election Act that prohibit election campaigning by full-time employees of local public corporations and punish violations. The referring court accepted the request and made a decision to refer the constitutional review.

The Constitutional Court viewed that the provision under review, which in principle prohibits election campaigning related to public office elections by full-time employees of local public corporations and punishes violations, restricts the freedom of election campaigning of full-time employees of local public corporations.

The Court stated, "It is difficult to see that the side effects and harms caused by election campaigning by full-time employees of local public corporations are greater than those by employees of general private companies," and added, "The Public Official Election Act allows full-time employees to maintain their positions and run for public office, considering that their influence is less than that of full-time executives. However, the provision under review excessively prohibits election campaigning even by full-time employees of local public corporations."

Furthermore, the Court ruled, "It is difficult to consider that the concern over distortion of public opinion due to mobilization of power that may arise from allowing election campaigning by full-time employees of local public corporations is so great as to require a complete ban on their election campaigning," and "Full-time employees of local public corporations cannot use their official duties to conduct or facilitate election campaigning or engage in typical acts influencing elections, even without the provision under review."

It added, "Considering the nature of the duties performed according to rank and the specific individual duties, the scope of subjects among full-time employees of local public corporations whose election campaigning is restricted should be minimized, or election campaigning by full-time employees of local public corporations should be prohibited only when it is conducted ‘by using their status’ or ‘within the scope of their duties,’ which can sufficiently ensure the fairness of elections."

On the other hand, Justices Lee Jong-seok and Lee Young-jin dissented, stating, "Local public corporations can intensively carry out a wide range of projects contributing to public interest in specific regions, and if full-time employees campaign while maintaining their positions, it is not easy to conclude that their influence on election fairness and equity is less than that of employees of general private companies."

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