[Anchor]
The National Election Commission's (NEC) flawed demand forecasting for ballots and poor on-site response have led to the infringement of voting rights, as captured clearly on CCTV. Despite the suspension of voting, citizens stood in line to cast their precious votes, but footage shows many eventually turning away without being able to vote.
Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the story.
[Reporter]
This is internal CCTV footage from Polling Station No. 7 in Jamsil 4-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul.
It is 5:52 PM, eight minutes before the polls were set to close.
A woman enters the polling station pushing a stroller.
However, she hesitates, appearing flustered as she sees the long, stagnant line of voters caused by the ballot shortage.
She looks toward the back of the polling station, seemingly trying to gauge how many people are waiting.
After receiving an explanation from a poll worker, she initially joins the line. But six minutes later, faced with the prospect of having to provide personal information and wait for a queue ticket, she leaves the polling station, unable to wait any longer.
A review of the CCTV footage until the moment the polling station officially closed shows that this woman never returned.
This scene illustrates how the NEC's complacent demand forecasting and failure in distributing ballots infringed upon the voting rights of citizens.
Other voters were also captured turning away after being informed of the voting delays. The NEC did not even keep a record of exactly how many people were unable to vote.
During the time voting was suspended, a man who had visited the polling station with a child spoke with a poll worker for some time before leaving. He managed to return just before the deadline to barely exercise his right to vote.
[Kim Jeong-cheol / Supreme Council Member of the Reform Party: The right to vote is what secures the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea's governance structure. If the NEC does not undergo reform at a level equivalent to dissolution, there is a concern that distrust in the election system will only continue to grow.]
The confirmed number of eligible voters for Polling Station No. 7 in Jamsil 4-dong was 3,204.
While 1,836 people actually voted on the day of the main election, only 1,400 ballots were initially provided.
The voting records indicate that 500 additional ballots were supplied in five batches of 100 each.
Only 64 ballots remained at the end.
(Video Editing: Park Ji-in, Design: Jegal Chan · Park Cheon-woong)
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