South Korea: Ex-election watchdog chief banned from leaving country amid ballot shortage probe

Seoul, June 12 (IANS) South Korea’s justice ministry has approved a request from investigators to impose a travel ban on the former head of the National Election Commission (NEC) amid a probe into shortages of ballots during last week’s local elections, sources said Friday.

The ministry took the measure against Roh Tae-ak, former chairperson of the NEC, as well as other key officials upon requests made by a team of investigators probing the case, according to judiciary sources.

The move came a day after investigators conducted a 13-hour raid that took place at the NEC’s headquarters in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, and its local offices in the capital that experienced the ballot shortages, Yonhap News Agency reported.

They reportedly secured documents detailing plans on printing the ballots and budget, as well as meeting minutes.

Investigators plan to analyse the secured documents and further look into the decision-making process behind printing the ballots and communications that took place between polling stations and the NEC on the day of the June 3 local elections.

The shortages temporarily suspended voting at 26 polling stations nationwide, including mostly in Seoul’s Songpa Ward, during the local elections, according to the NEC.

The incident prompted protesters to gather around a vote-counting facility in Songpa Ward to demand a re-run of the elections.

On Thursday, South Korea’s National Assembly launched formal procedures for a potential parliamentary investigation into ballot shortages reported during last week’s local elections, with requests for the probe submitted by both the ruling and opposition parties being reported to a plenary session.

The head of the Proceedings Division of the National Assembly Secretariat said that the requests for a parliamentary probe were submitted separately by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), with all lawmakers from each party sponsoring their respective requests.

The move marked the first step toward establishing a special parliamentary committee to examine allegations of mismanagement by the National Election Commission during the voting process.

The establishment of the committee is expected to undergo negotiations, as proposals from the DP and the PPP differed over the scope of the probe and the number of seats to be allotted to each party on the committee.

The PPP has argued that a separate special counsel probe should be launched alongside the parliamentary investigation, while the DP has maintained that such a move should be considered after the parliamentary probe.

In a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, the rival parties shared a consensus on holding a plenary session as early as next week to adopt a plan for the parliamentary probe, according to officials.

Separately, the PPP’s new floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig met with Hong Ik-pyo, presidential secretary for political affairs, and stressed the need for a special counsel probe into the incident.

Hong said the presidential office would be open to the idea of a special counsel investigation if the rival parties reach an agreement, according to PPP spokesperson Choi Soo-jin.

–IANS

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