Yoo Jeong-bok, who lost his bid for a third term, calls for special prosecutor and abolition of early voting after ballot shortage crisis

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok. [Yonhap]
Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok. [Yonhap]

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, who failed in his bid for a third term in the June 3 local elections, called Sunday for President Lee Jae Myung to apologize and for the National Election Commission to be dissolved, citing a ballot shortage that disrupted voting. He also urged the introduction of a special prosecutor and the abolition of the early voting system.

Speaking at a press conference at Incheon City Hall, Yoo said the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections was "an unprecedented incident" and described it as "a grave situation that violated citizens' right to vote and a national emergency in which the constitutional order has been trampled wholesale."

Voting was suspended at polling stations in Incheon. According to the Incheon Election Commission, ballots ran out on Tuesday — the main voting day — at the No. 1 polling station in Songdo 5-dong and the No. 6 polling station in Dongchun 1-dong, both in Yeonsu-gu, forcing a temporary halt until additional ballots could be delivered.

Yoo also raised doubts about the election results themselves. He said that in Songdo 1-dong and Songdo 2-dong, the in-precinct early vote tallies came out identically at 3,030 to 1,440 in both districts — an outcome he described as "statistically near-impossible" that "many citizens and media outlets are strongly questioning."

"All responsibility lies with the election commission, which has cast doubt on the integrity of the vote," Yoo said, adding that the body had already lost public trust over nepotistic hiring and what he called "basket voting" irregularities. He outlined a two-stage reform plan: first, a full restructuring of the commission's secretariat and mandatory external audits, followed by constitutional reform to abolish the current commission structure entirely and overhaul the election management system in line with international standards.

Yoo also directed criticism at the government. "The Lee Jae Myung administration cannot escape responsibility for this situation," he said, calling on President Lee, the Minister of Interior and Safety and all officials responsible for election administration to apologize directly to the public and take "every measure the people can understand," including dissolving the election commission. He further urged that a parliamentary investigation and a special prosecutor be pursued to "thoroughly uncover the truth behind the ballot shortage and all related allegations and lay everything out clearly before the public."

Yoo also proposed replacing the early voting system with a two-day main voting period. "Early voting should be abolished, but the main vote should be held over two days so that no one — office workers, youth, the self-employed, military personnel — has to give up their right to vote due to lack of time," he said.


psj@heraldcorp.com