Legal Experts Dismiss Nationwide Rerun Demands as 'Realistically Impossible'

Following the ballot shortage incident in the June 3rd local elections, calls for a nationwide rerun emerged. However, legal and political science experts have analyzed that such a move is realistically difficult to implement. This could lead to debates over legal and institutional procedures, extending beyond mere dissatisfaction with election results.

Article 224 of the Public Official Election Act stipulates that a nullification of an election in whole or in part, or the nullification of a winner's election, is only determined or ruled when it is recognized that the outcome was affected. A rerun is only possible if it is recognized that the winner could have changed had all the voters who couldn't cast their ballots done so. In the June 3rd Seoul mayoral election, the vote difference between the People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon and the Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh was 60,259 votes. However, the total number of missing ballots in Seoul was 4,206, making it highly unlikely to have affected the election outcome.

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, pointed out that a rerun could paradoxically lead to a reduction in the total votes cast as a solution for infringing upon suffrage, and that neither outcome would result in a fair election. Choi Jang-jib, professor emeritus at Korea University, stated that it would be difficult to make even those who have already voted cast their ballots again. Lawyer Kim Joon-woo suggested that even if a court orders a rerun, it would likely only apply to the polling stations where problems occurred, limited to the initial vote.

The 'proposal for a special law to conduct a rerun,' mentioned by People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk, carries a high risk of violating the principle of prohibition against retroactive legislation under Article 13, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution. Analyses suggest that the constitutionality of such a law is low in this case, where there is no fault attributable to the parties involved. Lawyer Lim Jae-sung stated that except for exceptional cases like the recovery of pro-Japanese collaborators' assets, retroactive legislation is only recognized when there is clear attributable fault on the part of the parties. In a situation where the elected candidates have no direct wrongdoing, the prospect of a rerun through a special law is considered low in terms of constitutionality. Lawyer Kim Joon-woo added that it is unreasonable for voters who have already exercised their right to participate in elections to suffer damage.