[Anchor]
The special counsel team investigating the National Election Commission (NEC) has launched a compulsory investigation after uncovering circumstances where voter counts by time slot were falsely entered at 30 polling stations nationwide during the June 3 local elections. It has been revealed that election commissions in 25 additional regions were involved, on top of the previously identified 5 city, county, and district areas.
Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the details.
[Reporter]
Starting yesterday morning (October 15), the special counsel team deployed 31 personnel, including 3 prosecutors, to simultaneously conduct raids on 7 election commissions nationwide, including the National Election Commission and 4 provincial and city election commissions.
The raids were initiated after confirming that voter counts by time slot were falsely entered into the election management system during the June 3 local elections. The search warrants cite charges including the fabrication of official electronic records and obstruction of official duties.
Previously, the joint prosecution-police investigation headquarters identified circumstances of false entries in 5 areas: 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 were found at city, county, and district election commissions in 25 additional locations nationwide, including Jangan-gu in Suwon, Jungwon-gu in Seongnam, and Giheung-gu in Yongin of Gyeonggi Province; Heungdeok-gu in Cheongju of North Chungcheong Province; and Seongsan-gu in Changwon of Gyeongsangnam-do.
The special counsel team is understood to have captured circumstances where officials repeatedly entered fake voter numbers with identical values for hourly voter status and later retroactively modified them to match the final voter tally.
Having sent investigators to the National Election Commission since late last month to analyze log data from the election management system, the special counsel team identified the problematic polling stations after questioning around 70 officials belonging to 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 acts.
(Camera Cooperation: Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing: Wi Won-yang | Design: Chang Sung-beom, Kim Han-gil)
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