On the 30th, the People Power Party filed a police complaint accusing President Lee Jae-myung of violating the Public Official Election Act over the controversy surrounding the exposure of his early voting ballot.
People Power Party Standing Election Committee Chairperson Jang Dong-hyeok submitted a criminal complaint against the president at the civil affairs office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency that afternoon.
Chairperson Jang said, "The essence of the problem is that a marked ballot was waved in front of TV cameras while expressing support for a specific party and a specific candidate," adding, "This is a clear ground for impeachment for violating the duty of election and political neutrality."
On the 29th, the president visited an early voting station set up at the Samcheong-dong community center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and briefly stepped out of the booth while voting to ask an election commission staffer, "If this circle mark isn't complete and is only half stamped, is it still valid?" The opposition camp criticized the move as damaging the principle of secret ballot and violating the president's duty of election neutrality.
The People Power Party also believes the president violated the prohibition on civil servants' involvement in elections by visiting traditional markets across the country ahead of the local elections and emphasizing symbols associated with a specific party at official events.
Chairperson Jang also wrote on Facebook that day, "Lee Jae-myung doesn't even bother to read the room anymore. He's openly the Democratic Party's campaign chief," adding, "It's not like this is the first or second time voting. Just say, 'Please vote for the candidate I picked.'"
He then referred to the president's post that day on X (formerly Twitter) saying "Not voting is not neutrality; it sides with those who harm my life and our community," and said, "Does this look like a president's post? Is the duty of election neutrality something not even worth caring about?" adding, "Go ahead and say, 'Please vote for the Democratic Party.' You don't care about the law anyway."
The People Power Party also filed a complaint against election commission officials on the grounds that they failed to take appropriate measures, such as retrieving the marked ballot, after it was exposed to the outside.
People Power Party Election Headquarters Chief Chung Hee-yong wrote on Facebook regarding the election commission's position that "merely entering and exiting the voting booth is not a violation of the election law," saying, "Simply coming out holding a marked ballot is already problematic," adding, "The National Election Commission's lax interpretation of a grave situation raises doubts about its fairness."
The Democratic Party of Korea responded immediately. Senior spokesperson Kang Jun-hyun told reporters at the National Assembly that day, "It was a simple happening," adding, "We see no value in responding to the People Power Party's forced attacks using extreme language."
Senior deputy spokesperson Im Se-eun of the Democratic Party also issued a commentary, saying, "They are mounting a contrived political offensive over a perfectly natural situation in which the president asked the chief election officer to check the condition of the stamping device," adding, "We hope they will first drop their obsession with peering at every word and action of the president under a microscope to manufacture political strife."