Lee Jeong-hyeon demands election commission explain 'miraculous' identical vote tallies at multiple precincts

Lee Jeong-hyeon, the People Power Party's defeated candidate in the South Jeolla-Gwangju special city mayoral race, has demanded that the election commission explain why the top two candidates recorded identical vote totals at multiple polling stations.

Lee issued a press release on June 10 claiming that "cases have been confirmed in which the vote totals of major candidates from entirely different precincts within 10 areas of Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, as well as parts of Incheon, came out completely identical." He called the phenomenon "highly unusual," noting it occurred simultaneously across dissimilar areas — between large cities and rural townships, and between mid-sized cities and village-level districts.

He added that "even a single occurrence of this would be a one-in-500-million miracle, yet it has been found repeatedly across multiple locations," and said the election commission must explain why urban centers, rural areas, island communities and industrial cities all produced the same figures.

According to Yonhap News Agency, 10 early voting stations in South Jeolla Province recorded identical early vote totals for Democratic Party of Korea candidate Min Hyeong-bae and Lee. In Geumsan-myeon, Goheung-gun and Songjeong 1-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Min received 1,401 votes and Lee received 120 — the same at both locations. In Samil-dong, Yeosu and Haui-myeon, Sinan-gun, both stations recorded 506 votes for Min and 42 for Lee. Nodong-myeon, Boseong-gun and Palgeum-myeon, Sinan-gun each showed 356 votes for Min and 42 for Lee. Iyang-myeon, Hwasun-gun and Byeongyeong-myeon, Gangjin-gun also matched, with 444 votes for Min and 46 for Lee.

The South Jeolla Province Election Commission said it had analyzed the detailed vote-counting records from the affected precincts and found that the total voting data — including the number of registered voters at each early voting station, vote totals by candidate and invalid ballot counts — all differed. "The vote totals happened to match by coincidence," it said.

Similar cases also emerged in the Incheon mayoral race, where major candidates recorded identical early in-precinct vote totals at separate polling stations.

In early in-precinct voting in Songdo 1-dong and Songdo 2-dong, Democratic Party of Korea winner Park Chan-dae received 3,030 votes at each location, while People Power Party candidate Yoo Jeong-bok received 1,440 votes at each.

The Incheon Election Commission released a statement pushing back against claims that matching results in the two neighborhoods indicated manipulation. "A detailed review shows that the total number of voters and all other vote figures differ between the two precincts," it said.

Separately, the Liberty Unification Party held a press conference outside the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's public affairs office and announced it would file a complaint against all Central Election Management Committee officials and others involved, on charges of ballot forgery and vote manipulation under the Public Official Election Act.

Also separate from the identical-tally controversy, a joint prosecution-police investigative task force has been established at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to look into the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. Kim Tae-hun, the third deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, has been named to lead the task force. Kim is regarded as a seasoned public security prosecutor, having previously served as head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's election investigation support division and chief of the public investigation third division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

선관위, 투표용지 준비 ‘고무줄 잣대’ 드러나…공식 회의도 없었다

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