Lee Jun-seok, head of the Reform Party's overall election campaign committee, speaks at a local campaign committee meeting held at the election office of Jung Seok-jun, the party's candidate in the Incheon Yeonsu-gap National Assembly by-election, on Monday. [Yonhap]
Lee Jun-seok, head of the Reform Party's overall election campaign committee, speaks at a local campaign committee meeting held at the election office of Jung Seok-jun, the party's candidate in the Incheon Yeonsu-gap National Assembly by-election, on Monday. [Yonhap]

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

Lee Jun-seok, head of the Reform Party's overall election campaign committee, called Wednesday for a suspension of vote counting after ballot shortages were reported at polling stations in parts of Seoul.

Lee made the remarks on Facebook, saying the ballot shortage affecting the Seoul mayoral race and other contests "is not a matter to be taken lightly."

"Whether printing fewer ballots was done in accordance with guidelines or was a judgment call by individual district election commissions is something the National Assembly must address rigorously later," he said. "But before that, the counting process must be halted."

He said the problem was particularly acute given that local elections involve multiple simultaneous races. "In contests other than the Seoul mayoral race, the missing ballots will inevitably affect the outcome," he said, adding that votes cast long after exit poll results had been broadcast raised the risk of distortion.

Lee said that while minor overruns — such as voters who entered polling stations before 6 p.m. casting their ballots slightly after the hour — had been tolerated for convenience, the current situation was different. "If people who had already seen the exit polls were voting for hours, that is a problem," he said. "The election commission may think it is fine as long as the margin falls within the maximum number of voters at the affected stations, but this situation is not that kind of situation."

Lee urged the National Election Commission to convene an emergency meeting. "If ballot shortages ran into the hundreds or thousands, that carries significant political weight regardless of what the final count shows," he said. "Once counting is finished, numbers are on the record and any remedy becomes an after-the-fact judgment — that is itself a problem. Counting must be suspended first, and the central election commissioners must convene an emergency session to issue an official ruling and take charge of the situation."


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