The People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 27NEWS1
The opposition People Power Party (PPP) said Thursday it plans to file 10 lawsuits seeking to invalidateelection results, including the Seoul mayoral election, over ballot shortages and voting disruptions during the June 3 local elections.
During the 2026 local elections on June 3, a shortage of ballot papers occurred at multiple polling stations nationwide, including one in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa District, southern Seoul. The shortages temporarily disrupted voting at some polling stations, which led some voters to reportedly leave without casting their ballots.
PPP's legal action follows the election authorities' rejection of all 122 challenges the PPP filed over the elections.
The PPP's legal advisory committee said it is seeking to annul six election results regarding the greater Seoul area mayors and governors and proportional representation seats on metropolitan councils in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon and four involving elections in Songpa District in southern Seoul.
The party submitted six lawsuits involving Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon, including the Seoul mayoral election and the proportional representation election for the Seoul Metropolitan Council, to the Supreme Court on Thursday morning.
The four cases related to Songpa District will be filed with the relevant high court by Friday, when the deadline for filing the lawsuits expires.
The election authorities had already rejected the challenges once.
“The ballot shortages and voting disruptions cannot be considered to have affected the election results,” the election authorities cited.
Ballot boxes for the June 3 local elections are piled up at Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Jamsil, Songpa District, southern Seoul, on July 2.YONHAP
The PPP has disputed that conclusion and argued that there is no way to know exactly how many voters gave up on going to polling stations or left after waiting because voting had been suspended. The party says the vote margins alone are not enough to conclude that the disruptions had no impact on the election results.
The PPP has focused on the proportional representation election for the Seoul Metropolitan Council, where the vote difference between the two parties was just 7,524. The party argues that the voting disruptions may have affected each party's vote total and the allocation of seats.
In Korea, proportional seats are allocated to political parties in proportion to the share of votes that they receive.
“It is difficult to understand how National Election Committe could acknowledge that it violated the law but still reject the challenges on the grounds that the violations did not affect the election results,” Kim Tae-kyu, head of the PPP's legal advisory committee, said.
“This concerns citizens’ right to vote and the fairness of elections, so the courts must closely examine whether there were violations in the election process, assess their impact and make a thorough judgment.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
