Ministry of the Interior and Safety Launches 'Fair Election Support Task Force' for 20th Presidential Election

The 1st Meeting Held... Focused Discussion on Civil Servants' Election Neutrality and Establishment of Public Service Discipline

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 8th that it is operating the Fair Election Support Task Force, composed of election-related departments within the ministry, to smoothly support the 20th presidential election and plans to actively respond to ensure a "fair and safe election" throughout the upcoming election schedule.

The task force is led by the Director of the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Office and includes a total of seven departments: the Election and Local Autonomy Legislation Division, Resident Division, Private Cooperation Division, Social Integration Support Division, Civil Servant Organizations Division, Service Inspection Officer, and Accounting System Division.

Minister Jeon Hae-cheol stated at the opening ceremony of the Joint Fair Election Support Situation Room on the 6th, "As the ministry responsible for election support affairs, we will faithfully support legally mandated tasks such as assisting with the preparation of the voter registry and requests from the National Election Commission," adding, "We will make every effort to manage a fair and safe situation by promptly responding to violations of election neutrality and incidents or accidents."

Accordingly, the task force held its first meeting on the same day to review the progress of legally mandated election affairs and plans to focus on promoting election neutrality among local public officials and establishing public service discipline. An "Action Guidelines for Public Officials" handbook will be published and distributed in December, and training for those in charge will be conducted in January next year.

Additionally, joint inspection teams will be formed and operated together with city and provincial governments to promptly and strictly handle violations of election neutrality, and inspection activities will be strengthened in stages according to the election schedule. Budget management will be reinforced to prevent local governments from executing populist or ostentatious budgets or deliberately delaying budget execution, and projects subject to rapid local finance execution will be encouraged to proceed as planned.

Furthermore, to ensure thorough election neutrality among civil servant organizations, volunteer groups and centers, and the three national movement organizations, joint public-private meetings, education, and surprise inspections will be conducted.

Park Seong-ho, Director of the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Office, said, "We will strive to ensure that the 20th presidential election is conducted fairly and safely by fostering election neutrality among local governments and their public officials and creating an atmosphere of fair elections."