What was dismissed as a simple clerical mistake in June has now escalated into a criminal investigation involving allegations of falsified election records and an attempted cover-up inside South Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC).
South Korea’s election system is facing another explosive controversy after a special prosecutor announced Tuesday, November 10, that investigators had uncovered evidence suggesting an election commission employee concealed and forged official vote tally sheets during the June 3 local elections.
The allegations involve the election for superintendent of education in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea’s most populous province.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the special counsel team led by independent prosecutor Lee Tae-han suspects an employee of the Gwangju City Election Commission in Gyeonggi Province manipulated election records, resulting in discrepancies between the reported vote totals and the actual count.
Even more troubling, investigators are examining whether officials within the local election commission attempted to conceal the suspected wrongdoing.
On Tuesday, investigators executed court-authorized search-and-seizure operations at the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission and the Gwangju City Election Commission.
The searches were conducted as part of an investigation into suspected violations of South Korea’s Public Official Election Act.
