"NEC Has Become an Unchecked Kingdom"
Mayor Oh Calls for Acceptance of Audit and System Reform
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon emphasized that the current crisis of Korean democracy is mostly caused by the National Election Commission (NEC) itself and urged the NEC to accept the audit results.
On the 2nd, Mayor Oh stated on social media, "It is no exaggeration to say that today's crisis of Korean democracy was born out of distrust and conflict toward the NEC," adding, "Most of it is the NEC's own doing."
He said, "The current system, which runs unchecked with issues such as fraudulent hiring and refusal of audits, has resulted in controversies over flawed elections," and added, "As a result, the public has become suspicious of elections, leading to severe conflicts."
He further suggested, "There is a need to reconsider the convention where the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court serves as the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission and the Chief Judges of District Courts serve as Chairpersons of the provincial election commissions," proposing, "To resolve this issue, the position of Chairperson should be opened to election and administrative experts as well as public officials from other institutions, and the best candidate among them should be appointed with a guaranteed stable term."
Mayor Oh pointed out that the NEC should accept audits from the Board of Audit and Inspection and be subject to audits by the National Assembly or independent audit bodies. He said, "The abnormal situation where the NEC has become an unchecked kingdom by emphasizing only its independence must be normalized," adding, "The NEC must accept audits from the Board of Audit and Inspection. At the same time, legal amendments should be pursued to enable parliamentary oversight of the NEC. Establishing an independent audit body is also an option."
He also stressed the need to establish a system to prevent flawed elections in advance. He stated, "To resolve controversies over flawed elections, system efficiency is urgent," and added, "It is necessary to devise measures to improve early voting and electronic vote counting systems and to strengthen competency evaluations of election personnel."
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