Protesters chant slogans outside the National Election Commission's Gwacheon headquarters in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, rallying against the ballot shortage that disrupted voting during the June 3 local elections. [Newsis]
Protesters chant slogans outside the National Election Commission's Gwacheon headquarters in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, rallying against the ballot shortage that disrupted voting during the June 3 local elections. [Newsis]

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on Monday called for a full accounting of what it described as entrenched wrongdoing at the National Election Commission, following a ballot shortage that disrupted voting in the June 3 local elections.

In a statement, the KCTU said the suspension of voting due to a ballot shortage was "an unprecedented event in the constitutional history of the Republic of Korea." It added that it was "even more outraged by the irresponsible conduct of the election commission's leadership after the crisis erupted."

The union said the commission had "abandoned polling sites without any precise distribution plan or emergency communications system, and when the problem grew serious, shifted the blame onto lower-ranking civil servants and election workers."

The KCTU also said the commission had "hidden behind its status as a constitutional body to ignore calls for reform, despite repeated scandals — nepotistic hiring, mass leave-taking during election periods, and chronic mismanagement." It stressed that "the structural responsibility cannot be buried under the resignation of a single chairperson."

The confederation demanded an immediate joint investigation by prosecutors and police, with all those responsible held strictly accountable, and called on the National Assembly to launch a parliamentary investigation without delay. "This crisis cannot be resolved without a fundamental overhaul amounting to the dissolution and reconstitution of the election commission," it said.

The KCTU added that "democracy is sustained by each citizen's vote," and strongly urged authorities to pursue a full investigation and carry out reforms to account for the failure to protect the people's right to political participation.

The ballot shortage occurred during the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections, held June 3.

Ballots ran out at 50 polling stations across the country, forcing 22 of them to temporarily suspend voting.


husn7@heraldcorp.com