Allegations of Preferential Contracting Emerge at National Election Commission

The National Election Commission (NEC), already under fire for an unprecedented shortage of ballots, is now facing allegations that it has been awarding preferential contracts to specific companies for years.

Circumstances have emerged suggesting that the commission has repeatedly entered into private contracts with certain businesses for everything from snacks for ballot counting staff to employee souvenirs and envelope production.

According to data on annual private contracts submitted by the NEC to the office of Representative Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party, a bakery in Seo-gu, Incheon, signed 140 private contracts for snacks and late-night meals for ballot counting staff with 61 local election commissions across the country during the period in question.

A single bakery located in Incheon supplied snacks not only to the Seoul metropolitan area but also to election commissions in South Jeolla, North Jeolla, and North Chungcheong provinces.

The total amount paid for these snacks by city, county, and district election commissions reached approximately 437.16 million won.

There were also cases where a single company effectively monopolized the supply of goods in specific regions.

A design firm based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, signed private contracts for envelope production with election commissions in North Jeolla Province as well as Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. These transactions totaled 268 cases, amounting to 1.2504 billion won.

The NEC maintains that there are no issues under contract law, as these private contracts involve services for goods with an estimated price not exceeding 20 million won.

An NEC official explained, "We may have renewed contracts with those companies because there were no issues with previous agreements," adding, "Each local election commission likely reviewed the matters themselves."

However, experts point out that due to the nature of the NEC, which does not undergo external audits, the proportion of private contracts conducted without competitive bidding among companies is significantly high.

The lack of a clear entity responsible for contracting is also cited as a problem.

This is because there is a possibility that suppliers are selected by each level of the election commission without clear criteria.

According to the NEC, the responsibility for contract work varies by item; for instance, the accounting department of the respective city, county, or district election commission handles snacks and late-night meals for ballot counting staff, while the general affairs department handles employee souvenirs.

Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.