The shadow of the June 3 local elections, the re-election situation caused by the 'ballot paper crisis' > News

The core basis for the People Power Party's decision to appeal the election lies in the judgment that the ballot paper shortage that occurred during the June 3 local elections seriously undermined the fairness of the election. There are a total of six regions subject to this appeal, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Ulsan, and Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, and the party leadership requested the National Election Commission to reexamine the entire range of election results, including regional and basic government heads and lawmakers. Party officials emphasized that the purpose of this appeal is not to consider the advantages or disadvantages of a particular party, but to find out the truth about whether the obvious mismanagement of the ballot paper shortage affected the actual victory. However, elections for superintendents of education and by-elections for National Assembly members were excluded from the scope of this appeal, and a selective approach was taken depending on the nature of the case.

It is known that during this decision, there was intense discussion within the party leadership over legal interpretation and political ramifications. Chief Spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon acknowledged that there were differences of opinion among the Supreme Council members, but explained that they ultimately unanimously agreed on the general principle that poor election management must be corrected. In particular, considering the fact that the party leader is the person with the right to file an appeal, the decision to quickly pass the decision at the Supreme Committee without going through the complex process of a general meeting of members was an inevitable choice in order to meet the appeal deadline of the 17th. The floor leader also attended the meeting and stated that he had sufficiently collected the opinions of the floor, but some are criticizing that the party leadership did not sufficiently reflect the various voices within the floor.

Some in the political world are critical of this measure, saying it is an unreasonable measure to overcome Representative Jang Dong-hyuk's leadership crisis. In particular, the inclusion of constituencies that have already won, such as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, as targets of appeal, is being sharply criticized among senior members of the party, calling it a 'light move'. However, advocates counter that excluding the Seoul mayoral election could lead to conflicting political interpretations of the election results, so including it for the sake of an objective investigation is actually a fair procedure. The ruling and opposition parties' calculations surrounding this issue are complicated, with the New Reform Party also filing a selective re-election appeal and pressuring the People Power Party to file a comprehensive appeal.

From a legal perspective, when an election appeal is filed pursuant to the Public Official Election Act, the National Election Commission conducts a strict review to determine whether the shortage of ballot papers had a material impact on the election results. According to Supreme Court precedent, the prevailing view is that if the gap between the first and second place candidates is greater than the number of voters who failed to vote, it is difficult to recognize it as a reason for re-election. Nevertheless, the fact-finding committee's point that the National Election Commission's crisis response system did not work adds to the weight of this appeal. If the National Election Commission dismisses or dismisses the appeal, the People Power Party can immediately file a lawsuit in court to invalidate the election, so this controversy is likely to continue into the judiciary's judgment area for months to come.