The People Power Party decided to push for the abolition of early voting and the consolidation or reorganization of the election commission in connection with the shortage of ballots in the June 3 local elections. It plans to draft a bill soon, report it to a general meeting of lawmakers, and begin the legislative process.
The People Power Party's "June 3 infringement of suffrage fact-finding and election administration reform special committee" held its third meeting at the National Assembly that day and discussed the so-called "safeguarding suffrage bill."
The bill includes provisions to establish an audit committee as an internal oversight body for the election commission; to create internal rules to protect whistleblowers within the election commission; and to add penalties for acts such as destroying election management materials, obstructing audits, disadvantaging whistleblowers, damaging video records, and leaking secrets.
Park Dae-chul, a People Power Party lawmaker who chairs the special committee, said, "We will finalize the draft after approval at a general meeting of lawmakers so that it can reflect the public demand for resolving the deprivation of suffrage and for reforming the election commission to the point of dismantlement," adding, "With ballot-count manipulation occurring not only in local elections but also in nationwide elections such as general and presidential elections, the current election commission can no longer contain the situation."
Park went on, "It is inevitable that Wi Cheol-hwan, the acting chair of the National Election Commission, resign, and we resolved to demand his immediate arrest and investigation, and to make him the first target of a special counsel probe," adding, "Suspicions are pouring in that not only the local elections but also the previous general and presidential elections were tainted. This cannot be written off as the deviation of a few employees."