Single Incheon bakery supplied election offices nationwide under no-bid contracts, lawmaker alleges

Election commissions across South Korea repeatedly awarded no-bid contracts to specific vendors for years — covering everything from snacks for ballot-counting staff to employee gifts and envelope production — the Hankook Ilbo reported.

Among the cases cited, a single bakery in Incheon supplied snacks not only to election offices in the Greater Seoul area but also to commissions in South Jeolla, North Jeolla and North Chungcheong provinces. In another instance, a newly established company secured no-bid contracts with election commissions nationwide.

Data on no-bid contracts signed by election commissions from 2021 to 2026, submitted by the National Election Commission to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun on Monday, showed that a bakery in Seo-gu, Incheon, had entered into 140 no-bid contracts with 61 election commissions across the country during that period to supply snacks and late-night meals for ballot-counting staff.

Despite franchise branches of the same bakery chain operating in each region, contracts were concentrated at that single outlet — extending beyond the Greater Seoul area to commissions in Gangwon Province, South Jeolla, North Jeolla and North Chungcheong. That concentration has fueled allegations of preferential contract steering.

The bakery signed just four contracts worth 8.91 million won in 2021, but by 2026 the number had surged to 36 contracts valued at 160.97 million won. The total paid by district-level election commissions for the bakery's goods came to 437.16 million won.

There were also cases in which a single vendor effectively monopolized supply to a particular region. A design firm based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, identified as Company B, signed 268 no-bid contracts related to envelope production with election commissions in North Jeolla Province — including those in Jeonju, Gunsan, Iksan and Wanju — as well as in Anseong in Gyeonggi Province and Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province, starting in 2021. Of those, 221 contracts were with North Jeolla commissions alone. The total transaction value reached 1.25 billion won ($860,000).

The National Election Commission said the contracts were legally sound, as they involved goods and services estimated below the 20 million won threshold that triggers competitive bidding requirements under procurement law.

A representative of the bakery also pushed back. "All we did was deliver bread to the election commission on election day," the representative said. "We had been supplying for some time, and because we delivered cleanly and reliably, people here and there referred us — that's how we ended up supplying to more places."

Yoon said the cases suggest "significant blind spots may exist in contract management and internal controls at election commissions at all levels," adding that authorities must thoroughly determine "whether the concentration of no-bid contracts with specific vendors is just the tip of the iceberg." He vowed to pursue the matter through the remaining parliamentary investigation hearings and special prosecutor discussions "until the public's questions are fully answered."