'A disaster foretold since the NEC's nepotistic hiring,' lawmaker says; PPP calls shortage 'an incident that should never have happened'
The People Power Party pushed back sharply Wednesday after an unprecedented ballot shortage hit Seoul and other parts of the country during the June 3 local elections, demanding the resignation of National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak.
Rep. Joo Jin-woo, who chairs the PPP's central campaign committee task force against the special prosecutor act on dropping charges, wrote on Facebook that day calling the situation "truly shocking." "How will anyone be held accountable for voters who could not cast their ballots — or simply gave up — because there were none to be had?" he wrote.
Joo criticized the commission directly, asking how South Korea's election administration had "sunk to the level of an African dictatorship." He called the shortage "a disaster foretold" from the time the NEC was caught giving preferential hiring to the sons and daughters of its own employees, and when a spike in staff leave requests during elections went unaddressed.
"The NEC has been silencing the public. Democracy has been lost to the NEC's arrogance," he wrote, urging Chairman Noh to step down immediately.
He added that the party would "investigate the full truth and hold those responsible accountable to the end."
PPP election headquarters chief Jung Hee-yong also issued an emergency statement from the party's vote-counting situation room in Yeouido, calling the shortage "a shocking incident that should not — and cannot — happen at a South Korean polling place in 2026." He said he could not shake the suspicion that "the high turnout caused a panic that led to this."
Jung said the NEC exists to ensure fair and transparent elections, and that allowing voters to be turned away on election day due to a ballot shortage went far beyond mere poor preparation. "It is a catastrophic dereliction of duty that I cannot help but condemn in the strongest terms," he said.
shindw@heraldcorp.com
