It has been confirmed that the National Election Commission (NEC) conveyed guidelines to provincial and municipal election committees during the June 3 local elections stating that "if errors occur in the number of voters, they can be reported with adjustments in the next time slot's report."

Today (August 4), the NEC sent an email to provincial and city election committees at 8:40 AM on the day of the June 3 local elections regarding instructions on entering and correcting the number of voters.

In the email, the NEC instructed, "As a principle, do not correct errors even if they occur in the number of voter counts. However, if correction is strictly necessary, make sure to report it to the person in charge at the Election Management Division of the National Election Commission and get approval before permitting the correction."

It also guided, "As long as there are no major errors in the existing voter count report data, it is possible to report by adding or subtracting in the next time slot's voter count report."

This effectively amounts to issuing "statistics manipulation guidelines" telling provincial and city election committees, which have the authority to modify inputs in the election management system including voter numbers, to reflect minor errors in reports for other time slots and adjust them internally.

This differs from the contents contained in the "Comprehensive Management Guidelines" previously announced to the public by the NEC.

Ahead of the June 3 local elections, the NEC emphasized in its Comprehensive Management Guidelines for the 9th National Simultaneous Local Elections that "since the contents entered into the election management system are disclosed to the public, dedicated staff must thoroughly check them."

It also specified, "When corrections to entered contents are necessary, the specific reasons must be stated, and provincial and city committees must clearly verify whether they correspond to grounds for correction and decide whether to allow them."

However, the email did not contain contents such as "not correcting as a principle" or "reporting with additions and subtractions as long as there are no major errors."

It is also known that the joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police (headed by Kim Tae-hun, 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office) for truth-finding on the infringement of citizens' right to vote has secured and is investigating circumstances that the NEC transmitted such guidelines via email.

Observers note that if it is confirmed as true that the NEC, which acts as the control tower for election management, issued such "manipulation guidelines" to all provincial and city committees, it could escalate from individual staff misconduct into an institutional corruption case.

It is expected that investigations will focus on whether the NEC's "upper echelons" were involved in or reported on the drafting and transmission of these guidelines, and whether voter count errors were manipulated and concealed in the same manner during past elections.

Regarding the ballot paper shortage incident today, the joint investigation headquarters will also summon and question the election official of the Gangnam-gu Election Commission as a suspect on charges of dereliction of duty.

Reference interviews with NEC officials are also scheduled regarding the "junkeret trip suspicions" involving former NEC Chairperson Roh Tae-ak and others.

(Photo: Yonhap News)