National Assembly to approve probe into local elections' ballot paper shortage
The National Assembly is expected to approve a bipartisan investigation into both the ballot paper shortage that occurred during the June 3 local elections and broader election management failures.
The National Assembly is set to approve a plan on Thursday to launch a parliamentary investigation into the shortage of ballot papers during the June 3 local elections.
Cheon Jun-ho, the senior floor deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), and Kim Seung-su, his counterpart from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), announced the agreement after a meeting at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The investigation has been tentatively titled the "Parliamentary Investigation into the Ballot Paper Shortage and Other Violations of Citizens' Voting Rights and Electoral Administration Reform" (translated).
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"The senior floor deputies of the ruling and opposition parties agreed to conduct a parliamentary investigation to swiftly uncover the truth behind the infringement of citizens' voting rights caused by the ballot paper shortage and to lay the groundwork for comprehensive reforms of the National Election Commission [NEC]," Cheon told reporters after the meeting.
The special committee will consist of 18 members: nine from the DP, seven from the PPP and two from nonnegotiating parties. The chair of the committee will be from the PPP.
The investigation will target the NEC and regional election commissions. The probe will run for 45 days, which can be extended if necessary.
"Because multiple regional governments were directly involved, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to actively cooperate in calling witnesses, including the minister of the interior and safety, officials from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and local government officials from cities, counties and districts where the shortages occurred," Kim said.
He added that the committee chair would be a member of PPP because it was the opposition party's turn to lead the special committee.
Cheon, however, stated that the allocation of the chairmanship and committee seats was not based on a precedent.
"The chairmanship and the distribution of seats between the ruling and opposition parties have been decided through negotiations each time that an investigative committee is formed," he said. "This time, after considering various factors, both parties agreed that the PPP would chair the committee and that membership would be divided equally between the ruling and opposition camps."
Separately, Cheon confirmed that negotiations on the formation of parliamentary standing committees would continue.
"There is still time tomorrow, and we will continue discussions with the PPP's floor leadership to ensure that the parliamentary committee structure is smoothly finalized on Thursday," he said.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]
