Footsteps heading to the polling station. [Photo=Yonhap News]

The voter turnout for the local elections four years ago was around 50%, suggesting that only actively supportive voters participated. The early voting turnout was 20.6%. As a result, the People Power Party achieved a landslide victory. 

This year's local elections saw an early voting turnout of 23.5%, a slight increase from four years ago. Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Gwangju had the highest early voting rates, with Jeonnam reaching 39%. Other regions were around 20%. It is expected that early voting rates were also high among those from the Honam region living elsewhere.

We refuse early voting and focus on Election Day voting because early voting has a high potential for misuse in election fraud.

I anticipate that this election will also have a high possibility of being fraudulent. The unrealistic figure of Lee Jae-myung's approval rating at 60%, which is laughable, and the outrageously high approval ratings for each Democratic Party candidate are proof of this.

Despite this, a comforting aspect is the expectation that many citizens, aware of the potential for election fraud, will cast their 'protest votes' on Election Day. There is also the hope that the 2030 generation, awakened by the Enlightenment Proclamation, will flock to the polling stations on Election Day.

It is an undeniable fact that the rallies of former President Park Geun-hye, once known as the 'Queen of Elections,' are also providing significant support.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Moos Tan, who monitored the Korean presidential election as the head of the International Election Monitoring Group during the last presidential election and exposed allegations of election fraud in Washington, along with three election fraud experts, who are close associates of former US President Donald Trump, entered the country on May 28.

They are meticulously monitoring these local elections. Just as the methods of election fraud have evolved, so have the techniques for monitoring and detecting it. Therefore, I am confident that they have already secured relevant evidence. In addition, numerous civic groups, such as the National Forensic Service, are doing their best to monitor the vote counting and tallying. We must win, both in voting and in vote counting.

An example of Lee Jae-myung's desperation is evident in the recent Starbucks incident, and the atrocity he committed by voting number 1, violating the principle of voting secrecy, during the out-of-province early voting this time.

Such actions constitute an act of encouraging supporters to vote and a violation of public officials' duty of election neutrality, a serious matter warranting impeachment. Former President Roh Moo-hyun was also impeached for similar election law violations. The National Election Commission should, of course, nullify candidate Lee Jae-myung's ballot and take legal action against him.

Given that the early voting turnout for this election was 23.5%, we must all 'go all-in' on Election Day voting and surely complete the election revolution to oust the 'fake' Lee Jae-myung administration with the highest Election Day turnout in history.

◆ Cho Yang-gun, Columnist

Head of the National Struggle Headquarters for the April 15th Election Fraud (Kuktubon)