![A ballot-sorting machine operates at a vote-counting center set up at Seoul National University gymnasium in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, on June 3, the day of the local elections. This photo is unrelated to the article. [123RF]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/22/rcv.YNA.20260603.PYH2026060317410001300_P1.jpg)
The National Election Commission will recount ballots from the Chungju mayoral race, in which the outcome was decided by just 124 votes during the June 3 local elections.
The North Chungcheong Province Election Commission accepted a recount request filed by Maeng Jeong-seop, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate who lost the Chungju mayoral race to People Power Party winner Lee Dong-seok, according to political sources Monday.
However, the specific schedule and procedures for the recount are to be determined at a later date.
Maeng filed the recount request on June 8, citing the fact that the number of invalid ballots — 2,277 — exceeded the margin of victory between the two candidates.
"A large number of invalid ballots were cast, and given that the election result was reversed in the early morning hours, there is a possibility that confusion arose due to the physical exhaustion of counting staff," Maeng said at the time. He added that the request was "not intended to contest the election result, but to verify that no errors occurred during the counting process."
Public Official Election Act allows election appeals within 14 days
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 the election date.
The commission must decide whether to accept the appeal within 60 days of receiving it. If the appeal is accepted and a recount proceeds, the costs are borne by the candidate who filed the appeal.
In the June 3 local elections, Maeng received 49.49 percent of the vote, or 52,838 ballots, while Lee won with 50.05 percent — 52,962 votes — claiming victory by 124 votes.
North Chungcheong Gov. Kim Young-hwan also demands new election
People Power Party incumbent Kim Young-hwan, who failed to win re-election as North Chungcheong Province governor, submitted an appeal to the Central Election Commission on June 16 seeking to have the election result declared invalid.
"I am calling for a nationwide by-election. This appeal is the start of that fight," Kim wrote on his Facebook page at the time. "This fight is not about reclaiming my own rights — it is the minimum duty I owe to the young people of this era and to the future of South Korea."
yul@heraldcorp.com
