Jang Dong-hyuk, the leader of the People Power Party, holds a press conference at the National Assembly on the 9th regarding the ballot shortage and vote count controversies. [Photo=Yonhap News]

The People Power Party has announced its intention to initiate preservation of evidence procedures for ballot boxes and ballots in connection with the ballot shortage incident during the June 3rd local elections. 

At a press conference on the 9th, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk stated, "If we just wait for a special prosecutor, the evidence will disappear and be contaminated," announcing that the party would file for evidence preservation in addition to preparing for an election appeal. 

A new point highlighted in this press conference is that the People Power Party, moving beyond raising suspicions and political pressure, has declared its intention to proceed with actual legal evidence preservation procedures. 

Furthermore, by officially announcing the abolition of early voting and clearly opposing the expansion of electronic voting and counting, the party has broadened the front to include 'election system reform debate'. 

Notably, Jang's characterization of the incident as a "deprivation of suffrage" rather than an "infringement of suffrage" signifies that the concerns previously raised by The Hankyoreh have now become official political discourse. 

The issue is shifting from a simple administrative error of ballot shortages to a constitutional debate on whether the opportunity to exercise the right to vote, which the state must guarantee, has actually been lost. 

Announcement of Evidence Preservation Procedures... From Raising Suspicions to Legal Action

Jang explained that Article 228 of the Public Official Election Act allows for the preservation of evidence for ballot boxes and ballots in the name of a political party or candidate, even before formal litigation or appeals are filed. 

He stated, "We will file for evidence preservation along with our preparations for the election appeal," adding, "If any other necessary evidence preservation is possible, we will immediately begin the corresponding applications." 

This is interpreted as the People Power Party's intention to prevent the incident from remaining at the level of merely demanding explanations from the National Election Commission or engaging in political disputes. The rationale is that key data such as ballot boxes, ballots, voter rolls, and server logs must be preserved before the procedures to contest election results fully begin, to enable future legal judgments. 

Jang also urged the joint investigation headquarters to immediately commence securing and searching for evidence related to the National Election Commission's servers, voter rolls, ballot boxes, and ballots. 

He argued, "Instead of dragging on with investigations of complainants, we must secure the evidence as quickly as possible," insisting that the joint investigation headquarters, with its coercive investigative powers, should move first. 

Officialization of Early Voting Abolition... "Increase in-person voting and abolish early voting"

Another new issue is the abolition of early voting. 

Jang argued that the current ballot shortage incident is not unrelated to the early voting system. He explained that in the process of preparing ballots for in-person voting, the estimated number of in-person voters was calculated considering the early voting turnout, and this process created the cause for the ballot shortage. 

Jang stated, "If only in-person voting had taken place, we would have prepared in-person ballots similarly nationwide according to the turnout," adding, "Because the early voting rates differ, and the in-person turnout is calculated after deducting those for early voting, I believe this is one cause for the ballot shortage." 

He continued, "We must extend the in-person voting period and absolutely abolish early voting," and urged, "We need to expedite the amendment of election laws so that by-elections can be conducted without early voting." 

The People Power Party has leveraged this incident to elevate the early voting system itself as a core issue of election credibility. 

Opposition to Electronic Voting and Counting

Jang also drew a line against electronic voting and counting. 

He stated, "Even after witnessing this incident, there should be no attempt to introduce or expand systems that are difficult for the public to trust, such as electronic voting and electronic counting," and declared, "The People Power Party will never tolerate this." 

This is interpreted as a demand to return the overall election system to a focus on on-site verification and observation, along with the abolition of early voting. 

The argument is that in a situation where election credibility has been eroded, expanding more complex electronic systems that are difficult for the public to verify directly can further foster distrust. 

From 'Infringement of Suffrage' to 'Deprivation of Suffrage'

Jang's phrasing on this day is also noteworthy. He characterized the incident not as a simple 'infringement of suffrage' but as a 'deprivation of suffrage'. 

This is not a statement at the level of some voters experiencing inconvenience at polling stations. It implies that the opportunity to exercise the right to vote, which the state must guarantee, has effectively been lost, and its consequences are difficult to fully recover afterward. 

The Hankyoreh has previously characterized this incident as a 'deprivation of suffrage case'. We pointed out that more important than the fact of ballot shortages is the fact that citizens who arrived at the designated time and place were unable to vote normally due to the state's lack of preparation. 

Jang's use of the same phrasing at an official press conference indicates that this issue is shifting from a simple administrative error to a political and legal debate about the failure to guarantee constitutional suffrage rights. 

NEC Numbers Continue to Increase... "They Grow Overnight"

Jang also raised concerns about the continuously changing figures released by the National Election Commission. 

He pointed out that the NEC initially stated 14 polling stations in Seoul had a ballot shortage, which later increased to 67 nationwide, and then expanded to 140 polling stations that received additional ballots. 

The number of polling stations that actually experienced ballot shortages also increased from 50 to 91, and the number of polling stations where voting was suspended rose from 22 to 26. 

Jang stated, "The numbers keep increasing overnight," adding, "We can no longer trust even the NEC's figure of 140 polling stations." He claimed the affected regions have spread not only to Seoul but to most areas nationwide, including Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Ulsan, Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam. 

The core issue is not just the magnitude of the numbers. It is the fact that the initial statements from the election management agency and the subsequent revelations have repeatedly differed. When the election management agency is the subject of accountability, repeated changes in reported figures will inevitably increase public distrust. 

Cases of Identical Vote Counts Raised... Songdo 2 Locations, Gwangju-Jeonnam 10 Locations Mentioned

Jang also directly raised cases where the number of votes for each candidate was identical in the preliminary vote counting results. 

He claimed that in the early voting for the Incheon mayoral election in Songdo 1-dong and Songdo 2-dong, the vote counts for candidates Yoo Jeong-bok and Park Chan-dae were exactly the same. 

He added, "In the unified mayoral election for Gwangju and Jeonnam, there were as many as ten regions where the vote counts for the two candidates were identical," stating, "The number of such cases nationwide has not yet been fully revealed." 

Jang noted that probability itself does not immediately prove facts. 

He said, "Of course, probability is not fact," but added, "If an extremely unlikely coincidence occurs, and if it is a coincidence as the NEC claims, then it is necessary to verify this fact to resolve public suspicion." 

This point should be viewed as a demand for procedural verification rather than a debate on probability itself. 

If events with a low probability of occurrence have been repeated, the NEC should not just say "it's a coincidence" but provide an explanation that the public can accept, through the raw data, counting process, system logs, and verification records. 

Proposal for a Special Law for Prompt By-elections

Jang reiterated his call for by-elections. 

However, the focus of his remarks today was on holding prompt by-elections, not just holding them. He argued that if the Supreme Court litigation process continues under current law, legal battles could be prolonged, further increasing nationwide confusion, and that a systematic foundation is needed for holding prompt by-elections separate from judicial procedures. 

Jang stated, "We need to establish a systematic foundation for holding nationwide by-elections, separate from judicial procedures," and added, "We will proceed with internal party discussions quickly to propose a special law for holding by-elections." 

He cited the suspension of voting due to ballot shortages, the possibility of voters abandoning their ballots and leaving, voting continuing late into the night after exit poll announcements, the controversy over transporting ballots in shopping bags during the additional transfer of ballots, and the controversies surrounding the transport and counting of ballot boxes without observers as reasons for by-elections. 

He also maintained his demand for a special prosecutor. Jang argued, "Ultimately, there is no answer other than a special prosecutor," and stressed the need to form a special prosecutor's office in a way that the public can trust. He also called on Chung Sye-kyun, the leader of the Democratic Party, to engage in discussions on promoting a special prosecutor bill. 

Procedural Verification Before Election Results

This press conference demonstrates that the People Power Party's response has moved to a new stage. 

If the demand for by-elections was a political slogan, the application for evidence preservation is the start of legal procedures. 

The abolition of early voting and opposition to the expansion of electronic voting and counting are demands for systemic reform. 

The special law for prompt by-elections is pressure for the political circle to make a systemic decision before the judicial process is prolonged. 

Elections are not justified by results alone. 

Whether voters could vote without obstruction at the designated time and place, how ballots were prepared and transported, under whose observation the ballot boxes and counting procedures were managed, and through what verification records the tally results were confirmed—all of these are part of an election. 

The more the NEC repeatedly concludes that there are "no grounds for by-elections," the more suspicion will not diminish. What is needed now is not the enforcement of a conclusion but the disclosure of records and the verification of procedures. 

With the People Power Party's announcement of initiating evidence preservation procedures, this incident is now entering a phase of legal verification beyond political disputes.