Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungbuk Election Commissions Raided... Investigation Expands into 'Vote Statistics Manipulation'

[Anchor]

The joint investigation team of prosecutors and police, which is investigating the manipulation of voting statistics by the National Election Commission, has launched additional raids on the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions where statistics manipulation is suspected.

Reporter Jung Hye-jin has the report.

[Reporter]

The joint investigation team of prosecutors and police, investigating the shortage of ballot papers on the day of the local elections last June, is conducting additional raids on the Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungcheongbuk-do election commissions in connection with the suspicion of "voter turnout statistics manipulation."

The targets of today's (August 7) raids include the National Election Commission, the election commissions of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Chungcheongbuk-do, as well as the election commissions of Gimpo, Uiwang, Jincheon, Seocho-gu, and Gangnam-gu.

It has been confirmed that the search and seizure warrants list charges including the falsification of official electronic records and obstruction of official duties.

The joint investigation team has captured the fact that working-level staff at election commissions in charge of managing local polling stations during the local elections last June arbitrarily modified statistical figures in the election management system to cover up mistakes in misentering the number of voters, and is investigating related suspicions.

The joint investigation team believes that the staff manipulated statistics by arbitrarily inputting false figures, ignoring the procedure of reporting to superiors when a misentry occurs, obtaining approval, and then modifying the figures.

It was also confirmed that on the morning of the election, an official from the National Election Commission sent a "manipulation guideline" to regional election commissions stating, "As a principle, do not correct errors in the number of voters even if they occur, and unless there are major errors, you can add or subtract them when reporting the number of voters at the next time."

Subsequently, when inquiries regarding corrections due to misentered voter counts came in from places like Gimpo, records were secured showing that the National Election Commission side created and sent an Excel file containing specific statistics manipulation methods and figures.

The joint investigation team plans to examine under what circumstances the "manipulation guideline" sent down by the National Election Commission on election day was written and delivered, and what actions the regional election commissions took based on it.

(Video Editing: Yeojin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.