President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung are seen drinking coffee at Gil-dong Bokjori Market in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, on the 6th, after visiting and comforting patients at Seoul National Cemetery Cemetery. [Photo = Yonhap News]

 The shortage of ballots in the 6.3 local elections is not a simple administrative error. 

If citizens who went to the polls were unable to vote in a timely manner due to the state's failure to prepare, it is an 'deprivation of suffrage incident' where the exercise of national sovereignty was blocked on the spot. 

Elections are not an administrative service, but a constitutional act by which the people grant legitimacy to state power. At that site, the exercise of citizens' suffrage was obstructed due to a shortage of ballots. This is an unprecedented event and a grave situation that has led to the subversion of the constitution. 

The National Election Commission is the party responsible and a potential suspect. Therefore, its explanation is subject to verification, not a conclusion. 

What the people must ask is not 'What did the election commission say?' but 'Why was the right to vote not guaranteed by the state agency that should have guaranteed it?' 

President Lee Jae-myung cannot escape responsibility either. 

The political responsibility of the head of state does not disappear simply because the election commission is an independent constitutional body. 

President Lee expressed regret over the ballot shortage and stated that responsibility should be held, but that alone is not enough. 

What is needed now is not the President's expression of regret, but a 'public apology.' 

He endured criticism of unconstitutional legislation regarding the controversy over the withdrawal of charges, which was linked to his judicial risks, yet he only shows a passive attitude in the face of a constitutional subversion incident where the people's suffrage was deprived. 

If the head of state is proactive about his own issues but only expresses regret for incidents that infringe upon the people's sovereignty, the people can only see him not as a responsible party, but as an 'accomplice in the deprivation of suffrage incident.' 

The President cannot hide behind the election commission, nor can he evade his responsibility as the head of state with photos of visits to local markets. 

The President's visit to the market can become a photograph. However, the President's stance of remaining silent or downplaying responsibility in front of citizens whose suffrage has been deprived becomes a record. 

This is not to say that a focus on people's livelihoods, such as examining egg prices and grocery costs, is unnecessary. However, it is not an issue that can be covered up by visiting markets in the face of a suffrage deprivation incident. 

It is the natural right of citizens of a democratic republic to peacefully protest and demand a re-election. The state cannot suppress that demand with physical force simply because it is inconvenient for the government. 

If police force is mobilized against a peaceful 'demand for re-election,' the nature of the situation will completely change. 

From then on, the issue will not be 'election management failure,' but a 'crisis of the constitutional order' where the demand for the restoration of national sovereignty is suppressed by state power. 

State power must also keep this in mind. 

Police and public officials are not private soldiers of the regime. Public officials are servants to the entire populace and are accountable to the people. 

Even if there is an obligation to obey orders in the line of duty, those orders are only legitimate when they are within the framework of the constitution and laws.  Wasn't it the Lee Jae-myung administration that demanded this of soldiers as well? 

If this logic is their standard, then refusing unjust orders is not insubordination, but loyalty to the constitutional order. 

People's livelihoods are also shaking. 

After the local elections, the stock market, which the administration had touted as an achievement, plummeted, and the won-dollar exchange rate soared to around 1,560 won. The price of a carton of eggs is also approaching 8,000 won. 

Citizens have had their suffrage violated at the polls, and at the market, they are facing pressure on asset values and living costs simultaneously. 

The deprivation of suffrage is a constitutional issue, and stock prices, exchange rates, and prices are issues of people's livelihoods. 

A public apology from the President is what is needed now. 

President Lee Jae-myung must apologize directly to the public and publicly demand an independent investigation, accountability, and legal review, including the possibility of a re-election. 

If he ultimately refuses, the administration will face a massive popular resistance. That resistance is not a matter of violence, but a peaceful and constitutional resistance to restore national sovereignty. 

The people are asking now. 

"At the moment when suffrage is deprived and people's livelihoods are collapsing, whose side are the president and politicians on?" 

 Power that cannot answer this question has no right to stand before the people.