No-Jeonghee Accused of Neglect of Duty for Not Going to Work on Early Voting Day and Faces Additional Charges

Lee Jong-bae, representative of the Rule of Law Restoration Action Alliance, is holding a press conference on the 21st in Seocho-dong, Seoul, before submitting a complaint against Noh Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
/Photo by Choi Seok-jin

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] An additional complaint has been filed against No Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, who was previously accused of mismanaging the early voting process for the 20th presidential election. This time, the complaint alleges that No failed to perform her duties by not appearing at the Central Election Commission office on the day of early voting, despite the foreseeable chaos.

The civic group, Action Alliance for Upholding the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon), filed a complaint against Chairperson No for dereliction of duty at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 21st.

Lee Jong-bae, representative of Beopse-ryeon, stated, "On the second and final day of early voting for the 20th presidential election, on the 5th, COVID-19 positive voters were unable to directly place their ballots into the ballot boxes. The Election Commission transported these ballots carelessly in ramen boxes and garbage bags, causing an unprecedented nationwide election management disaster beyond imagination. However, Chairperson No Jeong-hee reportedly did not even come to the Election Commission office that day," he criticized.

Lee added, "Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the Election Commission Act stipulates that 'The Election Commission shall faithfully comply with laws and regulations to ensure fairness in the management of elections and national referenda,' and Article 5, Paragraph 3 states that 'The Chairperson represents the Commission and oversees its affairs.' The Supreme Court has ruled that 'dereliction of duty' refers to cases such as conscious abandonment of duties that undermine state functions and may cause harm to the public."

He continued, "As the ultimate person responsible for the Commission's affairs, Chairperson No had a clear duty to strictly manage elections and national referenda. Yet, she neither came to the office on the most critical early voting day nor supervised the early voting process. This constitutes dereliction of duty, undermining state functions and causing harm to the public. Therefore, we are filing a criminal complaint against Chairperson No for dereliction of duty under Article 122 of the Criminal Act," explaining the background of the complaint.

Lee further stated, "The National Assembly foresaw the confusion in early voting and proposed separating voting times for confirmed and non-confirmed voters, but the Election Commission ignored this. Additionally, some secretaries-general and staff members responsible for practical work at district and city Election Commissions in the metropolitan area submitted opposing opinions to the Central Election Commission last month, stating that the guideline allowing staff to place ballots on behalf of confirmed voters could cause confusion and might violate the Public Official Election Act, which requires voters to directly place ballots into the ballot box. However, this was also disregarded," he said. "Moreover, anonymous posts within the Election Commission predicted early voting confusion and opposed the Central Election Commission's guidelines but were ignored."

He emphasized, "Therefore, this unprecedented early voting management disaster was fully foreseeable, as various sectors pointed out problems and urged improvements. It goes beyond negligence or incompetence and clearly constitutes an intentional election crime."

Lee also argued, "Although the Chairperson of the Election Commission is a part-time position, failing to come to work on the early voting day amid a surge in confirmed cases and expected voting confusion clearly amounts to dereliction of duty. Chairperson No should be severely punished for this."

Finally, Lee criticized, "What is even more shocking than this mismanaged election is that no one is properly taking responsibility. Only the Secretary-General, who was forced to resign amid nepotism allegations, has stepped down. Meanwhile, Chairperson No, the mastermind behind all these issues, continues to come to work while making absurd claims of 'doing better,' leaving the public aghast."

He urged, "If Chairperson No has any conscience left, she must take responsibility for the damage to democracy and immediately resign."

On the 5th, early voting for confirmed and self-quarantined voters was conducted by having isolated voters receive ballots and envelopes, vote in separate locations, place the ballots into envelopes, and hand them to election assistants.

During this process, ballots were carelessly stored in shopping bags or baskets, and cases of ballots marked for specific candidates being distributed occurred, leading to numerous complaints and protests nationwide.

Previously, Beopse-ryeon filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 7th against Chairperson No, Secretary-General Kim Se-hwan, and other Election Commission officials for abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, and violations of the Public Official Election Act, citing the Election Commission's poor management during early voting for COVID-19 confirmed and quarantined voters, which caused confusion and constitutional and legal violations.

Another civic group, the Committee for the Protection of Ordinary Citizens' Livelihoods, also filed a complaint against Chairperson No on the 6th for abuse of authority, coercion, dereliction of duty, and violations of the Constitution and Public Official Election Act.

On the 16th, 15 standing members from the nationwide city and provincial Election Commissions and the Central Election Commission demanded a public apology and a statement on her position from Chairperson No.

The Korean Bar Association also issued a statement on the 17th, urging Chairperson No to take responsibility for the early voting mismanagement controversy and resign.

Meanwhile, the case against Chairperson No was initially assigned to the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Choi Chang-min). However, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office transferred the case to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Although it was widely expected that the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency would handle the investigation, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency reportedly decided to transfer the case again to the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency.