In 19th-century Britain, miners entering dark and damp shafts held a yellow canary in their hands. The moment the canary, with a respiratory system more sensitive than humans, stopped singing and fell from its perch, it was the final warning from the mine: "Escape now if you want to live."

What about our politics today? Within the vast mine of democracy, are we listening to the canary's cry? Or, even after the bird's wings have stopped beating, are we saying "it's nothing" and continuing to swing our picks towards death?

A 10 ^-3000 Probability: "Evidence of Manipulation" Pointed Out by Science

Recent election data reveals indicators that deviate from common sense, becoming almost bizarre. Statisticians have analyzed the probability of a specific party achieving such a one-sided advantage solely in early voting as 10 ^-3000 (1 in 10 to the power of 3000).

This figure is equivalent to the probability of picking out a single atom from all the atoms in the universe, blindfolded, precisely 38 times in a row; it is virtually an "cosmic impossibility." This probability, which would require winning the lottery's first prize 430 times consecutively, scientifically demonstrates that the voting results in our society are not a natural flow of public sentiment, but a meticulously designed "game of numbers."

The crisp ballots, like newly printed currency, that emerged from the re-tallying sites, along with the "cabbage ballots" and "Japanese flag ballots" that shocked the nation, are tangible evidence of those "manipulated numbers" manifesting in reality.

Signs of Election Fraud: A Litmus Test for Polluted Democracy

These phenomena, like a litmus test that instantly reveals the acidity of a solution, serve as a litmus test for the health of our societal system. The pollution of the sacred mechanism of democracy, voting, is clear evidence that the system is suffocating.

This is not a mere administrative error, but a clear signal that the giant shadow of "communist totalitarianism," which destroys liberal democracy, is encroaching upon our society.

A Strange Faction Choosing "Stigmatization" Over "Verification"

Even more illogical is the reaction of the so-called "beneficiary factions" to this dying canary. A politician in a democratic nation operating under common sense would, when doubts about election integrity are raised, normally be the first to say, "Let's thoroughly investigate and clear up the suspicions." This is because securing the legitimacy of the vote is the only way to save the organism of democracy.

However, they are taking the opposite path. They are labeling the "rational suspicion" of voters, based on scientific statistics and physical evidence, as "anti-intellectual conspiracy theories," and branding the voices demanding truth with the shamanistic stigma of "far-right riot."

It is akin to blocking the miners' eyes and ears in a mine filling with toxic gas, saying, "Canaries are just naturally sleepy." Their high-handed and evasive attitude paradoxically proves that this incident is not a mere happening, but conceals a massive systemic manipulation and unjust intentions.

Now is the Time to Check the Cage

Totalitarianism does not arrive suddenly with grand slogans. Like the fading cry of a canary, it begins with subtle, illogical cracks that erode liberal democracy. An unprecedented margin of victory, mathematically impossible probabilities, and the strange ballots that poured out during re-tallying... these are like a mass outpouring of dead canaries.

The political establishment's haste to conceal and stigmatize rather than reveal the truth – is all of this truly a coincidence? Or is it a signal of democracy's end, which we are desperately trying to ignore? If a canary has fallen in the mine of democracy, a miner has only one thing to do. Stop digging and light a lamp to trace to the end what went wrong.

We must realize that the litmus test for diagnosing democracy has already turned red, and the canary is dead.

◆ Author Min Byung-gon

Current) Political documentary writer

Current) Spokesperson for the People Power Party's South Chungcheong Provincial Chapter