Chungju mayoral candidate Maeng Jeong-seop (second from left) [Yonhap News photo]

The Chungju mayoral election ballot, where the outcome was decided by a narrow margin of 124 votes in the 6/3 local elections, will be re-examined by the election commission.

On the 22nd, the North Chungcheong Provincial Election Commission announced that it had accepted the request for a recount filed by Maeng Jeong-seop, the Democratic Party candidate who lost to Lee Dong-seok, the confirmed winner from the People Power Party, in the Chungju mayoral election.

The recount is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. on the 15th of next month in the auditorium of Korea National University of Transportation.

However, the schedule may change due to circumstances such as venue availability. In accordance with relevant laws, the costs of the recount will be borne by candidate Maeng.

This recount will be conducted manually, without the use of the ballot sorting machine used during the election.

Counting officials will directly examine the ballots, sort them by candidate, and then conduct a secondary check using a counting machine similar to a bill counter used in banks.

Invalid ballots and ballots subject to objection will be reviewed separately by the court, the election commission, and observers from each candidate's side.

Earlier, on the 8th, candidate Maeng filed an appeal with the election commission, citing reasons such as an excessive number of invalid ballots (2,277) compared to the vote difference between candidates, and requesting the nullification of the election results.

Candidate Maeng explained, "There were a large number of invalid ballots, and the election results were overturned in the early morning, which may have led to confusion due to the physical limitations of the counting staff. My intention is not to contest the election results, but to reconfirm whether there were any errors in the counting process."

The election commission will make a final decision on whether to grant the request for the nullification of the election results based on the outcome of the recount.

An official from the provincial election commission stated, "We made this decision considering that candidate Maeng is eligible to file the appeal and that it was properly submitted within the legal filing period."

Meanwhile, this is the first ballot recount to be held in the North Chungcheong region since the 2014 Goesan County Council election.

In that recount, the election outcome was not overturned.