A ballot box transferred from Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, arrives at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium, the designated counting center, as observers watch it being opened on Friday. [Yonhap]
A ballot box transferred from Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, arrives at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium, the designated counting center, as observers watch it being opened on Friday. [Yonhap]

The Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission apologized Friday over a ballot shortage that disrupted voting at some polling stations during the June 3 local elections, saying it was "deeply sorry for the significant inconvenience caused to Seoul residents and citizens across the country."

Seoul election commission chief Oh Min-seok issued a statement Friday saying he "deeply feels the weight of responsibility for undermining public trust through election mismanagement that fell short of basic common sense."

Oh said the commission had failed to adequately prepare for the possibility of higher-than-expected turnout and had also been slow to respond once the problem emerged. "There is no excuse," he said.

He explained that the shortage occurred at Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, where the number of voters exceeded projections and available ballots ran out.

Oh said polling was suspended at the station until additional ballots arrived from the Songpa-gu election commission, after which voting resumed. Other polling stations that also ran short of ballots received additional supplies and were able to continue, he added.

Oh pledged that the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission was treating the matter with the utmost seriousness and would make every effort to establish measures to prevent a recurrence after conducting a thorough investigation into the facts.


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