Forestry Cooperatives Pledge to Conduct Next Year’s Simultaneous Cooperative Head Election Fairly

[Financial News] The National Forestry Cooperative Federation made an organization-wide commitment to establish a clean election culture ahead of the fourth Nationwide Simultaneous Cooperative Head Election, scheduled for March next year.
The National Forestry Cooperative Federation announced on the 8th that it had held the “Pledge Rally for a Fair Fourth Simultaneous Cooperative Head Election” at the Comprehensive Training Center for Forestry Workers in Cheongsong County, North Gyeongsang Province, with forestry cooperative heads from across the country in attendance.
At the event, Chang-ho Choi, chairman of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation, and regional cooperative heads from across the country unanimously pledged to participate fairly and impartially in the simultaneous cooperative head election scheduled for March 3 next year. The participants also vowed to take the lead in eradicating violations of the Act on Entrusted Elections, including the exchange of money and goods and illegal campaigning, and in creating a clean election culture.
In March, the National Forestry Cooperative Federation officially launched the Forestry Cooperative Green Election Management Organization to establish a fair election management system. Centered on this organization, the federation plans to provide systematic and consistent management and support throughout the entire election process for the 142 member cooperatives nationwide, from the preparation stage and candidate registration to voting, ballot counting, and post-election management.
The federation plans to continue providing election-law guidance and conducting activities to prevent illegal conduct among member cooperatives nationwide, so that no violations of laws governing entrusted elections occur in the future.
Chang-ho Choi, chairman of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation, said, “As an organization leading the management of private forests, forestry cooperatives will conduct an election that is cleaner and fairer than ever so that they can set an example for the public and forestry workers.”
The Nationwide Simultaneous Cooperative Head Election is a large-scale election held at the same time to select the heads of agricultural and livestock cooperatives, fisheries cooperatives, and forestry cooperatives. It has a significant impact on the rights and interests of cooperative members and on local forestry and agricultural economies. However, controversy over excessive competition, including “money-based elections” and the exploitation of school and regional ties, has continued during cooperative head elections in some areas. As a result, calls have been made for efforts to ensure fair elections even under the election commission’s entrusted management system.
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