![Citizens demanding a re-election continue their blockade protest outside the vote-counting center at the handball gymnasium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Saturday, demonstrating against a ballot shortage during the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/06/news-p.v1.20260606.5d775accf7a64ac9b46fed7abd4487fd_P1.jpg)
As the blockade protest outside the Jamsil vote-counting center entered its second day, election officials believed to have been trapped inside are understood to have slipped out to avoid the demonstrators.
The National Election Commission declined to confirm the account.
About 10,000 people had gathered around the handball gymnasium at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul — where the counting center is located — as of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to an unofficial police estimate cited by Yonhap News Agency.
Holding South Korean flags and parasols, the protesters gathered at each of the gymnasium's eight entrances, chanting "re-election" slogans, singing the national anthem and keeping watch to prevent ballot boxes from being removed.
Multiple people at the scene told Yonhap that 20 to 30 National Election Commission staff members initially believed to be inside the counting center are now thought to have left the building.
Vote counting had concluded around 3 p.m. Friday, but some protesters had been blocking NEC staff from entering or leaving, claiming ballots could be removed at will.
With the staff gone, only security personnel remain inside the counting center, one official added. An NEC official declined to confirm the situation, saying the commission's official position was that it "cannot disclose whether any staff are inside the counting center."
mss@heraldcorp.com
