Parties agree on ballot probe but clash over special prosecutor, re-elections

The ruling and opposition parties have both called for swift accountability and electoral reform in the wake of the ballot shortage crisis that marred the June 3 local elections, but sharp differences have emerged over a special prosecutor investigation and potential re-elections.

Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do said Tuesday the party would convene a plenary session this week to report a parliamentary investigation plan into the ballot shortage, then put it to a vote at next week's plenary session to stand up a special committee as quickly as possible. Han added that the party would immediately begin revising the Public Official Election Act and the National Election Commission Act to overhaul the electoral management system, and would set up a separate task force on electoral reform alongside the parliamentary investigation.

Han also took aim at the People Power Party, saying it should "stop irresponsible agitation politics" by demanding that the president and Cheong Wa Dae be included in the scope of the parliamentary investigation. He said the PPP's newly elected floor leader, to be chosen Wednesday, should immediately enter negotiations on organizing the Assembly.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok held a press conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday and pressed the ruling party to act, saying a nationwide re-election was ultimately the only fundamental solution to what he called the disenfranchisement crisis. He called on Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae to begin special prosecutor discussions immediately, and said the Assembly should start working on both re-elections and a special prosecutor without delay.

Jang also linked early voting to the crisis, saying that cases where candidates received identical vote counts and win rates all came from early voting, and that early voting was one of the causes of the ballot shortage. He said even election commission staff had flagged problems with the system, and suggested the Democratic Party's resistance to abolishing early voting raised suspicions of ulterior motives — signaling an intent to connect early voting to allegations of election fraud.

Both parties submitted separate parliamentary investigation requests to the National Assembly's bill-processing office Monday. Disagreements over the investigation's duration, scope, committee seat allocation and the chairmanship are expected to fuel a battle for control in the negotiations ahead.

The PPP called for equal representation on the special committee — nine members from each party — with the chairmanship going to the largest opposition party. The Democratic Party, by contrast, specified in its request that committee seats should be allocated in proportion to each party's share of Assembly seats.

The two parties are also far apart on a special prosecutor and re-elections. Democratic Party Secretary-General Jo Seung-rae said at an Assembly briefing that the party's official position was to pursue whatever was necessary — whether a parliamentary investigation or a special prosecutor — but said he could not understand the PPP's move to drag the president and Cheong Wa Dae into the matter. Within the PPP, a faction aligned with the party leadership has been pushing for a full nationwide re-election. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, however, said Tuesday on the JoongAng Ilbo political talk show "Hwang Hyun-hee's Uncomfortable Yeouido" that a re-election legally requires grounds sufficient to have affected the outcome. He said the Seoul mayoral race — already decided by more than 60,000 votes — was structurally unlikely to meet that bar, though re-elections were possible for ward council, city council and proportional representation seats.

Reform Party floor leader Cheon Ha-ram said the party would begin filing partial election nullification petitions targeting some polling stations in Seoul, and that selectively holding re-elections only at stations where ballots actually ran short was the only viable solution.

The Democratic Party has maintained a cautious stance, saying re-elections are a matter for the courts to decide and not something political circles can determine unilaterally. Meanwhile, the number of polling stations confirmed to have run out of ballots on election day has risen from 50 to 91. The National Election Commission will operate a truth commission on the ballot shortage from Wednesday through June 19 to determine the cause of the crisis and establish accountability.