![People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won draws a Taegukgi at the Olympic Park handball arena in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Sunday, where protesters have been blockading a vote-counting center to denounce the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/15/news-p.v1.20260614.60e10382089b4ad888fcea692bbef8fe_P1.jpg)
People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won said Sunday that the standing commissioner of the National Election Commission, not its chairman, must be the primary target of any investigation into the ballot shortage that marred the June 3 local elections, and called for an opposition-led special prosecutor to handle the case.
Writing on social media Sunday, Na said the Seoul mayoral by-election issue should not be reduced to "a wasteful political squabble," adding that what truly matters is how to address what she called "the worst fraudulent election disaster in constitutional history" — and who should be held accountable.
Na said the crisis must not be buried by "cutting off the tail" with NEC Chairman Noh Tae-ak as the sole fall guy, and stressed the need to investigate the standing commissioner rather than the part-time chairman.
"The NEC chairman is a non-standing position. Real authority over the commission's internal operations rests with the standing commissioner and the secretary-general, both of whom hold minister-level rank," she said. "The standing commissioner who holds that power right now is Wi Cheol-hwan."
She also noted that Wi is a classmate of President Lee Jae-myung from the 18th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute and is known as a close personal friend.
"Wi Cheol-hwan, who routinely oversees all political and administrative affairs of the NEC as the de facto head standing in for the part-time chairman, is another key culprit behind this total systemic collapse — the one that left ballot papers running out and vote tallies reversed," Na said. "The person who should step down immediately, be barred from leaving the country and face a thorough investigation is not the part-time Chairman Noh Tae-ak, but the real power holder, standing commissioner Wi Cheol-hwan."
Na also pressed for an opposition-led special prosecutor.
"Without an opposition-led special prosecutor, a proper investigation and fact-finding is simply impossible. We must have one," she said, warning that "the golden hour for investigating the NEC is being squandered even now."
She called for by-elections to be held first in constituencies where ballots ran out or where evidence of irregularities has emerged, with a full re-run to follow if systemic fraud is confirmed. "Any administration that fails to protect the integrity of elections will inevitably lose its own legitimacy and right to exist," she said.
She added that "the enraged citizens whose right to vote was stolen will not stand by and do nothing."
ygmoon@heraldcorp.com
