Ballot boxes from blocked polling station retrieved, clearing path to Seoul mayor result

Ballot boxes from Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu — the site of an unprecedented ballot paper shortage during the June 3 local elections — were retrieved Friday morning, turning political attention to when Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon can be officially declared the winner.

The retrieval is seen as the final piece needed to complete the certification process for the June 3 local elections, which had been stalled for three days due to protesters blockading the polling station.

The two ballot boxes retrieved Friday contain approximately 2,000 votes cast by Songpa-gu residents.

According to the National Election Commission, the count from those boxes must be completed before any candidate's victory can be legally certified under the Public Official Election Act. An NEC official said Friday that while the act states winners are determined by the candidate with the most valid votes, it sets no specific deadline for completing the count. "It appears the election commission will not certify a winner before the count at the Songpa-gu polling station is finished," the official said.

Meanwhile, police dispersed roughly 200 protesters who had blockaded Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, demanding the election be declared invalid. The Wooseong apartment complex in Jamsil, which had been thrown into chaos for more than 30 hours, returned to calm.

At around 8:30 a.m. Friday, police issued a dispersal order. An official from the Songpa Police Station warned that assaulting police or election workers could result in criminal punishment, citing a cooperation request from the Seoul Election Commission related to escorting the ballot boxes. When protesters refused to stand down — singing the national anthem as they held their ground — more than 100 riot police rapidly surrounded the senior citizens' center inside the Wooseong complex and entered through a rear door.

Protesters lay down in front of the entrance, linking arms to form a human chain and block police from entering, chanting "Get out!" repeatedly. Officers pulled demonstrators away one by one, with three or four officers assigned to each protester. The chain gradually thinned, and the rear door was opened at around 8:52 a.m.

As police approached the senior citizens' center, protesters who had scattered nearby regrouped and shouted warnings — "Police are coming!" and "Riot squad is coming!" — as officers closed in.

More than 1,000 officers from 18 riot police units were ultimately deployed around Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong. The narrow apartment complex became severely congested as protesters, residents and police converged. Officers eventually secured the two ballot boxes and delivered them to the counting center.

Most protesters dispersed after the ballot boxes were removed. Some, however, entered the polling station and searched the premises, saying they were looking for evidence of election fraud.

During the search, protesters found handwritten notes made by polling station staff — records kept in real time of the number of additional ballot papers secured as workers scrambled to respond to the shortage.

The protesters maintained their position that counting should not proceed. "An unprecedented situation occurred in which voting was temporarily suspended because ballot papers ran out," they said. "For the sake of a fair election, the counting process must not go forward."

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok also visited Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong on Friday to inspect the scene.

The NEC issued a statement Thursday saying it would establish an external expert-led fact-finding committee to investigate why some polling stations ran out of ballot papers on election day.

The commission said it would first analyze voting records from the affected stations and gather firsthand accounts from polling officials and staff. "We will thoroughly examine the problems identified, their causes and who bears responsibility, and will disclose all findings in full to the public," it said.

The NEC is currently selecting members for the fact-finding committee from both inside and outside the organization, according to sources familiar with the matter.

President Lee Jae-myung expressed strong displeasure over the incident at a senior staff meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. "Every state institution has a duty to make thorough preparations so that not the slightest gap exists in the exercise of citizens' sacred right to vote," he said. "Yet in some areas, residents reportedly experienced great confusion and inconvenience due to a shortage of ballot papers. I express very deep regret that such a hard-to-explain lapse occurred in election management — which, in a democratic republic, must be held to the highest standard."

Lee added that relevant agencies should use all the authority and responsibility at the administration's disposal to clearly establish why the problem occurred and hold those responsible to account. "I ask that credible and appropriate measures be put in place to ensure that violations of the right to vote never happen again," he said.