'Counting must stop … broadcast may have influenced voters'

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok watches exit poll results for the 9th nationwide local elections at the party's election monitoring center at PPP headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Wednesday afternoon. [National Assembly Press Corps]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok watches exit poll results for the 9th nationwide local elections at the party's election monitoring center at PPP headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Wednesday afternoon. [National Assembly Press Corps]

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

Jang Dong-hyeok, the People Power Party's standing election campaign committee chairman, on Wednesday urged authorities to halt the vote count for Seoul in the 9th nationwide local elections and hold a re-election depending on the outcome of a full investigation, citing a ballot shortage that struck parts of the capital during voting.

Jang made the call at a press conference at PPP headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, noting that turnout had been running higher than in the previous election across the country since morning.

"The increase in in-person turnout compared to the last election does not exceed 10 percent," he said. "Yet the number of ballots prepared fell short of even a 10 percent buffer over the previous election — that is simply incomprehensible."

He added that turnout in an earlier election had reached 60 percent. "That means organizers should have prepared enough ballots based on that 60 percent figure — not the 50 percent from the election just before this one," he said.

Jang said the National Election Commission had failed to act despite receiving warnings of a potential ballot shortage three hours before it materialized. "As a result, there will have been voters who gave up waiting and did not cast their ballots," he said. "There will also have been voters who, after hearing news reports that ballots had run out or that people had left after long waits, decided not to go to the polls at all."

On voting that was still under way as of 9 p.m. Wednesday, he said the ongoing broadcast of partial results could not be ruled out as having influenced those who voted after 6 p.m. "This Seoul election is a tainted election," he said. "It is an election in which voters' right to vote and right to political participation have been seriously violated."

"Even now, vote counting must be suspended immediately until the facts are established," Jang said. "This incident cannot simply be buried on the vague assumption that it had no effect on the outcome."

Turning to the election commission, he urged it to issue a clear account of the facts and a formal position that the public could accept, and to bear legal responsibility accordingly. "If we fail to completely root out the problem of poor election management, we will inevitably face social conflict every election cycle, and the cycle of mounting social costs will repeat itself," he said.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com