Jang’s call for a revote draws backlash

Jang Dong-hyeok, the leader of the People Power Party (PPP), said on Tuesday regarding the ballot shortage in the June 3 local elections that “the only way to fundamentally resolve this disenfranchisement crisis is ultimately to hold a nationwide revote.” He argued that, separate from legal procedures such as election petitions and lawsuits, the National Election Commission should itself declare this local election invalid and then hold rerun elections nationwide.

While there is no dispute that there was a comprehensive failure in election administration, it is questionable whether the main opposition party leader’s call for a nationwide revote accords with ordinary voters’ common sense. That is because the priority should be to thoroughly uncover the truth behind the mistakes of the constitutional body that deprived the public of their precious voting rights and clearly reveal it to the public.

Jang is also calling for the abolition of early voting along with a nationwide rerun election. Using online posts by internal election commission staff complaining of practical difficulties and limitations in managing early voting and vote counting as a pretext, he is denying the entire system outright. He has even mentioned the so-called twin vote tally phenomenon, in which Democratic Party and PPP candidates recorded the same number of votes at different polling stations during early voting, speaking and acting as though he is trying to link this election to past allegations of election fraud.

However, attempts to connect the calls at a rally in the Olympic Park in Songpa District, southern Seoul, demanding guaranteed voting rights with election fraud claims are a direct insult to voters who want fairness and justice. The argument that early voting, which was introduced to guarantee voting rights, should simply be abolished is also irresponsible.

One would hope Jang is not making such arguments with the intention of using public anger to evade demands that he take responsibility for the local election defeat and step down.

 If election fraud claims or conspiracy theories intervene in this situation, it will be impossible to root out the lawlessness and laxity of the complacent election commission. Only after a thorough and objective fact-finding process and measures in accordance with legal procedures can a reasonable solution be found to this unprecedented infringement of voting rights.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was, for all intents and purposes, directly affected by the ballot shortage incident, and even voices within the PPP have expressed a cautious view that the election law, which stipulates that a revote should not be held unless illegalities altered the outcome, must be respected. What the leader of the main opposition party should be doing now is not jumping on election fraud claims but gathering constructive opinions from inside and outside his party and helping restore trust in the election system. That is the stern command of the people, who are sovereign.