"Every single employee from the district office and neighborhood offices was mobilized — and the election commission staff took leave during a major election year?"
A person believed to be a Songpa-gu civil servant publicly criticized the National Election Commission after a ballot shortage disrupted voting during the 9th nationwide local elections.
A post titled "District office and neighborhood office staff mobilized 100% — election commission on leave?" appeared Friday on the website of the Songpa-gu chapter of the Korean Government Employees' Union Seoul Regional Headquarters.
The author, identified only as A, said the election commission had "offloaded most election work — including campaign literature, voter registration lists and polling duties — onto neighborhood offices," and demanded to know what the commission actually does itself. "What percentage of teachers, central government employees and metropolitan civil servants were drafted compared to their total headcount? Does the election commission think only local government workers are suckers?" A said.
A separate critical post had appeared on the same website on Wednesday, election day itself. Its author, identified as B, wrote: "How could not a single election commission employee show up at the scene while a crisis like this unfolded? I can no longer work with such an incompetent organization."
B added: "The election commission should run election operations on its own. Stop using local government workers as cannon fodder."
Ballot shortages halted voting at 14 polling stations across Jamsil 2-, 4- and 7-dong, Garak 2-dong and Munjeong 2-dong in Songpa-gu, Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam-gu, and Guui 3-dong in Gwangjin-gu. The election commission made an emergency resupply and extended the voting deadline to 10 p.m.
Chaos continued at the scene. Hundreds of citizens and conservative-leaning YouTubers who had raised concerns about the voting process converged on polling stations to block the transport of ballot boxes. At the No. 2 polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, where an overnight standoff took place, police secured access to the site and removed the ballot boxes at around 8:50 a.m. Friday.
The National Election Commission said it would investigate the incident and draw up measures to prevent a recurrence.
dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com
