Jang Dong-hyuk: “The NEC is a suspect ... 2.47 million ballot papers cannot be handed over”

[Financial News] People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk strongly objected on the 29th to the transfer of ballot papers for the June 3 local elections, saying, “The National Election Commission (NEC) is a suspect in this case. No investigation entrusts evidence to a suspect.”
Jang said this in a Facebook post early that morning: “The NEC showed up at 4 a.m. saying it was going to take the ballot papers.”
He claimed, “The special counsel says that ‘only selected ballots are subject to investigation’ and that it will hand the remaining ballots over to the NEC, saying it has no ‘authority’ over them.” He went on to stress, “The NEC had already lost that authority the moment the ballot shortage occurred.”
Jang and several other People Power Party lawmakers observed for about 12 hours the public inspection of ballot papers for the June 3 local elections, conducted the previous day at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, by the special counsel team led by Lee Tae-han investigating the NEC. They stayed at the scene even after the inspection ended to prevent the ballot boxes from being moved.
Jang claimed that the inspection uncovered damaged security seals, storage boxes that had been altered and reprocessed, and boxes containing ballot papers from a different neighborhood. He said there were also cases in which the number of actual ballot papers fell short of the tally, as well as discrepancies in the color and margins of the ballot papers and in election officials’ stamps.
“This is all that has come to light so far. This is why we have to protect 2.47 million ballot papers,” he said.
People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu also posted on Facebook, raising suspicions of discrepancies between the tally and the actual ballot papers: “At the table I checked, the Democratic Party of Korea (Garakbon-dong proportional representation) showed +100 votes, while the People Power Party showed -1 vote?”
At the scene, they discussed options including transporting the ballot boxes to Paju, Gyeonggi Province, accompanied by representatives of the special counsel, the NEC, the People Power Party and citizens. However, the standoff continued as talks over moving the ballot boxes carried on.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter