13,692 Gyeongnam Public Officials Refuse General Election Duties: "Improve Low Allowances"

Approximately 13,000 local government officials in Gyeongnam have decided to refuse mobilization for election duties related to the 22nd National Assembly election scheduled for April.

The labor unions of public officials from 18 cities and counties in the province held a press conference in front of the Gyeongnam Election Commission on the 7th and delivered signatures from 13,692 officials who expressed their refusal to be mobilized for election duties to the Gyeongnam Election Commission.

The Gyeongnam Public Officials Union is holding a press conference in front of the Gyeongnam Election Commission.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

The union stated, “Since 2023, we have demanded election duty allowances linked to the minimum wage and an increased ratio of private sector participation in election personnel, but nothing has changed, and rather, with the introduction of ballot verification, they are trying to mobilize even more public officials.”

“Local government officials suffer every time an election approaches,” they said, “They start work at 4 a.m. and are assigned to election duties until after 8 p.m., sometimes working up to 16 hours of intense labor, yet the allowance is only 130,000 won.”

They added, “We have held three meetings with the Gyeongnam Election Commission, but there seems to be no room for improvement,” and urged, “Please immediately improve the treatment of election workers in the Gyeongnam area.”

According to the union, public officials work as election supervisors, election clerks, and vote counters during elections.

For the upcoming general election in April, the allowance for election supervisors is 190,000 won, for election clerks 130,000 won, and for vote counters, 75,000 won if the counting finishes before midnight, and 150,000 won if it goes past midnight.

With the introduction of ballot verification, where vote counters check each ballot individually to eliminate suspicions of election fraud in this year’s general election, an increase in counting personnel is expected, leading to growing calls for raising election duty allowances and improving working conditions.

Petition and resignation letters received from public officials in the province by the Gyeongnam Public Officials Union.
[Photo by Se-ryeong Lee]

The union conducted a signature campaign opposing forced mobilization for election duties from January 24 to February 6, and separately received resignation letters from 500 secretaries and clerks of election commissions in towns and townships across Gyeongnam, expressing that they cannot perform election duties under the current conditions.

After the press conference, they held a meeting with officials from the Gyeongnam Election Commission and handed over a box containing the signed petitions.

They declared the start of a refusal movement for election duty appointments, demanding ▲ the cessation of forced mobilization of public officials for election duties ▲ an increase in election duty allowances ▲ and that the Election Commission directly handle election-related tasks such as posting election posters and sending election materials.

An official from the Gyeongnam Election Commission said, “We requested a 50,000 won increase to raise the election duty allowance even slightly, but the approved increase after consultation with the financial authorities was about 30,000 won.”

“Some outsourcing is currently done for posting election posters, but conditions do not allow for outsourcing the sending of election materials,” the official explained. “The personnel mobilized for election duties are already diversified across public institutions, schools, banks, and cooperatives, and this will continue in the future.”

They added, “We appreciate the hard work of local government officials during elections, but it is regrettable that we cannot improve allowances and other conditions as they wish. Although we cannot act independently of decisions made by the Central Election Commission, we will continue efforts such as raising allowances and diversifying personnel.”

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