1346 Cooperative Heads Including NongHyup and Suhyup to Be Elected on 'D-Day'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The 3rd Nationwide Simultaneous Cooperative Head Election, the biggest concern in the mutual finance sector, will be held on the 8th.

According to the Central Election Commission, voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2,020 polling stations across 17 cities and provinces nationwide.

This election will select 1,346 heads of Nonghyup, Suhyup, and Sanlim cooperatives.

According to the Election Commission, the total number of voters was confirmed to be 2,029,558 as of the 26th of last month. By cooperative, Nonghyup has the largest number of voters at about 1.65 million, followed by Sanlim Cooperative (250,000) and Suhyup (120,000). The voters consist of 1,381,402 males, 645,793 females, and 2,363 corporations.

Under current law, the term of office for Nonghyup cooperative heads is four years, with the possibility of reappointment for up to two terms. For Suhyup, the term is also four years, but non-standing cooperative heads can be reappointed only once, while standing cooperative heads can be reappointed up to twice. For Sanlim cooperatives, the term is four years as well, and standing cooperative heads can be reappointed up to twice.

In the mutual finance sector, each cooperative head operates independently, wielding unique and powerful authority. Because of this, this year's cooperative head election also showed signs of corruption. The Gyeongnam Election Commission recently reported two incumbent cooperative heads in the Gyeongnam region to the Gyeongnam Police Agency for attempting to offer 100 million won in bribes to prospective candidates in exchange for not running in the election. According to the Election Commission, the number of illegal acts related to the cooperative head election reached 286 cases (as of the 27th of last month).

Meanwhile, after voting ends, the ballot boxes will be moved to the counting centers where vote counting will be conducted with the participation of vote counting observers appointed by each candidate. The results of the counting can be checked on the Election Commission’s website and the cooperative head election statistics system.