Ballot shortages amount to a ‘grave infringement’ of voters’ rights, President Lee says

President Lee Jae Myung on Monday called the ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections a "material infringement of voters' rights," a view he said was shared by the chiefs of the country's key constitutional institutions.

“Regardless of how many people were affected or whether it had any impact on the outcome, it is a grave and non-excusable problem that [the government] failed to guarantee people’s voting rights and hampered the full realization of popular sovereignty,” Lee said during the meeting at the Blue House in Jongno District, central Seoul.

The gathering was attended by National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, Chief Justice Jo Hee-de and Constitutional Court President Kim Sang-hwan. It excluded the National Election Commission (NEC). 

“I had called the meeting on short notice because the situation was too serious to be left unaddressed,” the president said.

“As the NEC is an independent constitutional body, neither the government nor other state institutions can formally intervene in its affairs,” Lee added. “Under the current interpretation of the Constitution, even audits are effectively off limits, which makes it difficult for authorities to verify exactly what had happened.”

Yet Lee stressed that the situation could not simply be left unattended.

“Elections are central to the constitutional order, and they are about the realization of popular sovereignty,” Lee said.

President Lee also urged an official discussion on how to respond to the ballot shortage and its consequences.

“The priority would be to determine exactly what happened, even if a clear remedy is not immediately available,” Lee said. “Those responsible should be held accountable in a manner the public considers appropriate by any means, and we should also discuss what remedies and safeguards may be available.”

Parliamentary Speaker Cho said the ballot shortage “cannot be treated lightly.”

“This incident caused by the NEC reflects an administrative convenience-oriented mindset that undermined the public’s sacred voting rights,” Cho said. “It has consequentially shaken public trust in the state system.”

Jo, chief justice of the Supreme Court, said he was “devastated and shocked by the infringement on voting rights caused by the ballot shortage.”

“The judiciary, too, will do its utmost within the role assigned to it by the Constitution and the law to safeguard the integrity of elections and protect the rights of the people,” Jo said. “We need to identify how something that should never happen in a democracy came to occur and take steps the public can understand.”

Constitutional Court President Kim said that he viewed the situation with a “heavy heart.”

“The fact that such an accident occurred during an election — the primary means by which citizens participate in shaping the nation's will — may have harmed public trust and pride in Korean democracy and electoral system, which were built through sacrifices and dedication over the multiple decades,” Constitutional Court Justice Kim said.

Prime Minister Kim mentioned the possibility of constitutional amendments.

“The National Assembly has decided to undertake a parliamentary probe, and the government has stated that it will establish a body in which both ruling and opposition parties, as well as the public, can participate through every available mechanism, including the state commission for national unity,” the prime minister said. “Whether that requires changes to the law or even the Constitution, this meeting reflects a consensus that the issues raised by the public must be addressed.”

President Lee, earlier in the day, said he was “willing to hear the views of key chiefs of the state bodies on how best to approach what appears to be a problem within our constitutional and governance system” during his press conference marking the first anniversary of his inauguration.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]