Chungju mayoral candidate who lost by 124 votes requests recount

Maeng Jeong-seop, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate who lost the Chungju mayoral race by 124 votes, has filed an election appeal seeking a recount.

Maeng submitted the appeal to the North Chungcheong Province Election Commission on June 8, arguing that the number of invalid ballots — 2,277 — far exceeded the margin of victory between the two candidates.

Under the Public Official Election Act, any voter who disputes the validity of an election may file an appeal with the election commission within 14 days of election day.

The commission must decide whether to accept the appeal within 60 days of receiving it.

If the appeal is granted and a recount proceeds, the candidate who filed the appeal bears the costs.

"A large number of invalid ballots were cast, and the results flipped in the early morning hours — there is a possibility that fatigue among vote-counting staff led to confusion," Maeng said Wednesday. "This is not a challenge to the election outcome, but an effort to verify that no errors occurred during the counting process."

In the June 3 local elections, Maeng received 49.94 percent of the vote, or 52,838 ballots, falling just short of People Power Party winner Lee Dong-seok, who took 50.05 percent with 52,962 votes.

잠실 투표용지 상자 사라졌다…용지 부족 사태 핵심 물증 확보 ‘난항’

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