Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok [Yonhap]
Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok [Yonhap]

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

The Reform Party on Monday called for a special prosecutor investigation and by-elections in response to the ballot shortage that disrupted the June 3 local elections.

Speaking at the party's supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said a special prosecutor probe was "inevitable" and that nomination rights for the special prosecutor "must be given to the opposition."

Lee said he welcomed President Lee Jae Myung's swift order to form a joint investigative task force, but questioned whether government-controlled investigative agencies could be trusted. "They are the same agencies that cleared lawmaker Jeon Jae-soo of charges," he said. "Who would trust them?" He added that a parliamentary investigation should proceed quickly in the public interest, while a special prosecutor was necessary to identify those ultimately responsible.

He also said nomination rights for the special prosecutor should broadly rest with the opposition. He suggested that legal professionals who have raised allegations about early voting be allowed to participate in the investigation. "That way, their half-baked claims will be exposed and conspiracy theories will show their limits," he said.

Lee acknowledged that the crisis had its roots in legitimate public anger — voters had been turned away from polling stations after ballots ran out — but warned that something else was now riding on top of that anger.

"People who took to the streets for the first time in their lives, spontaneously, came out under the single banner of 'my vote was taken from me,'" he said. "The moment figures like Jeon Han-gil and Mostan get involved, the sincerity of those who genuinely took to the streets comes under suspicion as well."

Reform Party floor leader Cheon Ha-ram proposed holding "selective by-elections," saying the core issue was a violation of citizens' right to participate in elections and that by-elections were the only way to fundamentally remedy that.

While agreeing that a special prosecutor was "of course necessary," Cheon said he personally supported holding by-elections limited to polling stations where voting was actually halted due to the ballot shortage.

On the mechanics, he said major parties including the Reform Party should each file election objections. The National Election Commission should then immediately declare a partial invalidation of results at the affected stations and proceed with by-elections.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com