PPP Lawmakers Stage Sit-in to Block Transport of Ballots at Olympic Park
Special prosecutor Lee Tae-han's team concluded the public verification of some 2.47 million ballots cast in the Songpa district of the June 3 local elections at midnight on the 28th, after roughly 12 hours. The verification was a process of directly examining ballots to determine whether votes had been properly counted.
Once the verification ended, observers from the People Power Party launched a sit-in at the Olympic Park handball gymnasium, vowing to block the transport of the ballots to the National Election Commission. After the special prosecution team left the scene, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk, Supreme Council member Kim Min-su, and about ten other opposition observers began a sit-in in front of the boxes of verified ballots to prevent their removal. "We must prevent the destruction of evidence," Kim said. "We will stage an overnight sit-in to stop the ballots from being transported." The party justified the protest by arguing that its allegation—that the tabulated results for the proportional representation Songpa District council race differed from the actual count—has not been resolved.
Meanwhile, in response to the observers' request for a recount, the special prosecution team replied that "ballots subject to the investigation are limited to those selected on-site, and we have no authority over any other ballots."
There were delays during the verification process. The special prosecution team attempted to begin the verification at around 9 a.m. on the 28th, but the PPP observers objected to a policy banning filming, delaying the start by about three hours. At around 10:50 a.m., the team began checking each ballot one by one for quantity and markings and printing condition, with the observer delegation present. The previous night, at around 10 p.m., the two sides had disagreed for about an hour over the method for counting the Garak Bon-dong ballots.
To determine whether the ballots had been forged or altered, the team also received support from the National Forensic Service in the form of a digital microscope capable of magnifying up to 1,000 times and an infrared spectrometer. Ballots suspected of irregularities were set aside and subjected to additional examination with optical equipment. Ballots showing no anomalies were to be moved to a secure warehouse designated separately by the election commission.
This verification was conducted as part of the special prosecutor's investigation, and its results have no bearing on determining the winners of the local elections or the vote counts.
