Three Seoul Election Commission Members Resign Over Alleged "Dismissal Guidelines"

[Anchor]

Three members of the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission have resigned in succession. The issue stems from documents sent to them by the National Election Commission (NEC) ahead of the review of election appeals, which will determine whether re-elections are necessary. The members protested, claiming the documents essentially contained instructions to dismiss the election appeals.

Morning Zoom-in, reporter Kim Kwan-jin.

[Reporter]

Following the resignation of Oh Min-seok, the former chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission, on the 5th of last month due to poor management of the voting process, only seven out of the eight total members remain.

However, it has been confirmed that three members responsible for reviewing election appeals collectively submitted their resignations three days ago.

The Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission currently has 97 pending election appeal cases involving heads of local governments and local council members.

An election appeal is a procedure in which the election commission independently determines whether a re-election is necessary within 60 days.

On the 3rd, three days before expressing their intent to resign, these three members received an email containing a document titled "Reference Material" drafted by the National Election Commission.

The document reportedly contained the NEC's internal stance that issues such as the extension of voting hours, voting after the release of exit poll results, and the absence of observers during the transport of ballot boxes "are difficult to view as violations of the law or grounds for invalidation."

One Seoul election commission member told SBS, "This was effectively a directive to dismiss the election appeals, which undermined the independence and fairness of the review process," adding, "I wanted to fulfill my responsibilities, but I had no choice but to resign."

Wi Chul-hwan, the acting chairman of the National Election Commission, had previously stated that calls for re-elections were irresponsible, though he later retracted the remark.

[Wi Chul-hwan/Acting Chairman of the National Election Commission: I believe that political circles, at the very least, should not be demanding re-elections.]

As the Seoul election commission members resign one after another while taking issue with the "preliminary guidelines" from the NEC, concerns are rising over potential disruptions to future appeal reviews and controversy regarding the credibility of the results.

The National Election Commission explained to SBS, "We have confirmed the receipt of the resignation letters from the three members," and added, "The document was prepared solely for reference purposes and was not intended to influence the appeals."

(Video Editing: Lee Seung-jin, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)

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