[Anchor]
The special counsel team investigating the National Election Commission has launched a compulsory investigation after capturing circumstances indicating that hourly voter counts were falsely entered at polling stations in 30 regions nationwide during the June 3 local elections. This newly reveals that election commissions in 25 additional regions were involved, beyond the 5 cities, counties, and districts where suspicions were initially raised.
Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the report.
[Reporter]
The special counsel team deployed 31 personnel, including 3 prosecutors, starting this morning (October 15) to simultaneously conduct raids on 7 regional election commissions nationwide, including the National Election Commission and 4 provincial and municipal election commissions.
The team confirmed that hourly voter counts were falsely entered into the election commission system during the June 3 local elections, and the search and seizure warrants specified charges including the falsification of official electronic records and obstruction of official duties.
Previously, the joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters identified circumstances of false entries in 5 locations: Seocho and Gangnam in Seoul, Gimpo and Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, and Jincheon in North Chungcheong Province.
However, the special counsel team stated that similar issues occurred at 25 city, county, and district election commissions nationwide, including Jangan-gu in Suwon, Jungwon-gu in Seongnam, and Giheung-gu in Yongin in Gyeonggi Province; Heungdeok-gu in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province; and Seongsan-gu in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
The special counsel team is understood to have captured circumstances where officials repeatedly entered fake voter statistics for different hourly slots using identical values and subsequently modified them to match the final voter tally.
Having dispatched investigators to the National Election Commission since late last month to analyze election management system log data and other records, the special counsel team identified the problematic polling stations after questioning around 70 officials affiliated with regional election commissions.
Based on the seized materials, the special counsel team plans to determine the exact scale of the falsely entered voter counts and identify officials who directed or participated in the practice.
(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Reported by Yang Hyun-chul | Video edited by Wi Won-yang | Design by Jang Seong-beom and Kim Han-gil)
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