Ballot box from Jamsil polling station retrieved, clearing path for Oh Se-hoon's election win

The ballot box from Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station No. 2 in Songpa-gu, Seoul — the site of an unprecedented ballot paper shortage — was retrieved Friday morning, turning political attention to when Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon will be officially declared the winner.

The retrieval completes the final step needed to certify winners from the June 3 local elections, a process stalled for three days by protesters who blockaded the polling station.

The two ballot boxes retrieved Friday are believed to contain votes cast by roughly 2,000 Songpa-gu residents. According to the National Election Commission, the count of those ballots must be completed before the leading candidates can be legally certified as winners. Under the Public Official Election Act, the NEC has sole authority to determine the validity of ballots and declare results.

An NEC official said in a phone interview Friday that while the Public Official Election Act states winners are determined by the candidate who receives the most valid votes, the law sets no specific deadline for completing the count. "It appears the NEC will not certify the winner before the count at the Songpa-gu polling station is finished," the official said.

Meanwhile, police dispersed the roughly 200 protesters who had blockaded Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station No. 2, claiming the election was invalid. The Jamsil Woosung apartment complex, which had been thrown into turmoil for more than 30 hours, returned to calm.

At around 8:30 a.m. Friday, police ordered the crowd to disperse. An official from the Songpa Police Station warned that assaulting police officers or election workers could result in criminal punishment, adding that officers had received a cooperation request from the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission regarding maintaining order during the ballot box transfer. 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 at the Woosung apartment 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, repeatedly shouting "Get out!" at the officers. Police grabbed protesters one by one — three or four officers to each person — and dragged them outside. 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, shouting warnings to one another — "Police are coming!" and "Riot squad is coming!" — as officers drew closer.

In total, more than 1,000 officers from 18 riot police units were deployed around Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station No. 2. The narrow apartment complex became severely congested as protesters, residents and police converged. Officers ultimately 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 that counting should not proceed. "An unprecedented situation occurred in which voting was briefly suspended because ballot papers ran out — for the sake of a fair election, the count must not go forward," their side said.

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 at a senior presidential secretary meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. "Every state institution has a duty to be fully prepared 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 my deepest regret that such an inexplicable lapse has 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.