NEC Under Fire for Using Election Reserve Funds to Pay Allowances to Non-Standing Commissioners

It has been revealed that the National Election Commission (NEC) diverted presidential election reserve funds to pay fixed allowances to non-standing commissioners, including former Chairperson Noh Tae-ak, after their original budget was cut last year.

According to data provided to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Ki-heon by the NEC, the commission was unable to execute the Fair Election Promotion Activity Allowance—a monthly fixed payment for non-standing commissioners—from January to March of last year.

This occurred because the government cut the entire 215.4 million won budget for these allowances, citing that the non-standing commissioners had poor attendance records despite receiving high fixed payments, and that allowances were being duplicated under different categories.

The non-standing commissioners include the NEC Chairperson. Former Chairperson Noh attended the NEC office only twice in January of last year.

Due to the government budget cuts, former Chairperson Noh did not receive his usual monthly payment of 2.9 million won, and the other seven commissioners did not receive their 2.1 million won monthly payments for three months.

However, when an early presidential election was confirmed following the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, the NEC was allocated 395.7 billion won in reserve funds related to the election in April of last year. A portion of these reserve funds was used to cover the previously cut allowances.

From April to June of last year, 52.8 million won from the presidential election reserve funds was paid to non-standing commissioners, including former Chairperson Noh, under the guise of fair election promotion activity allowances.

Even after the election ended, the NEC carried over the remaining 52.8 million won from the election reserve funds to pay these allowances from July to September.

As a result, former Chairperson Noh continued to collect the allowance while attending the office four times in July, twice in August, and three times in September.

It was further revealed that from October to December of last year, the NEC even carried over remaining funds from its basic operating budget to ensure the payment of these allowances to non-standing commissioners.

The NEC's fair election promotion activity allowance, which is paid as a fixed amount regardless of attendance, has long been a subject of controversy.

In 2022, the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, and in 2023, the Board of Audit and Inspection, both concluded that there was no justification for the payments.

Despite this, the NEC revised the Public Official Election Act in 2024 to resume the payment of these allowances.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Hong Jinyoung | Graphics by Yang Hyemin | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.