Amid the ongoing 'protest to block vote counting stations' around the Handball Stadium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, which began with a shortage of ballots for the June 3 local elections, Yoo Seung-min, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, is being blocked by rally participants as he attempts to enter the Handball Stadium on the 16th. To the left is Park Dae-chul, a National Assembly member of the People Power Party. [Joint Coverage] 

On the 18th, Park Dae-chul, a National Assembly member of the People Power Party (representing Jinju Gap, Gyeongnam), proposed an amendment to the Public Official Election Act to abolish advance voting and extend the main voting period to two days.

This is the first time a bill to abolish the advance voting system has been proposed since discussions on reforming the National Election Commission (NEC) intensified following the ballot shortage incident in the June 3 local elections.

The amendment's core principle is to abolish the advance voting system and, in its place, extend the current one-day main voting period to two days.

It also includes provisions to reintroduce the 'absentee voting system,' allowing voters who cannot participate in the main voting to cast their ballots in advance for two days starting four days before the election, provided they have registered beforehand.

The bill's proposal was joined by 25 lawmakers, including veteran politicians with three to four terms such as Kim Sang-hoon, Yoon Young-seok, Kim Sung-won, Kim Jung-jae, and Song Eon-seok, as well as party leadership including Supreme Council member Shin Dong-wook, and lawmakers Lee Man-hee and Kwon Young-jin from the 'Alternative and Future' faction.

Park wrote on Facebook, "I am very concerned that with the current system, not only advance voting, but even thorough election management itself might be beyond the NEC's operational capacity," emphasizing, "We can no longer tolerate a situation where the fairness and reliability, the essence of elections, are severely undermined. We must break this 'chain of distrust' that causes extreme social costs and conflict."

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who was expelled from the People Power Party, also participated in this proposal. A representative from Han's side explained, "He participated in the joint proposal because he agrees with the bill's objectives, such as extending the main voting period, abolishing advance voting, and introducing absentee voting."