PPP lawmaker claims vote-count discrepancies in 57 precincts from 22nd general election

People Power Party lawmaker Ju Jin-woo said an analysis of vote-count records from the 22nd general election found discrepancies between handwritten tally sheets and digitally entered results at 57 precincts nationwide. Ju said the differences amounted to 730 votes and 19,484 voter-count figures, and announced plans to submit the relevant materials to the special prosecutor's team investigating the National Election Commission.

Speaking at a National Assembly press conference Sunday, Ju said that after an earlier review of the greater Seoul area, a nationwide check had confirmed that handwritten tally sheets and digitally entered results did not match. According to materials released by Ju's office, vote-count discrepancies were found in 15 precincts, while voter-count discrepancies appeared in 42 precincts. Combining both categories, Ju said there were 85 cases of inconsistency in total.

Ju cited the second precinct of Sigi-dong in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, as one example, saying the handwritten tally sheet recorded zero valid votes while the digital system showed 369. In the third precinct of Ilgwang-eup in Gijang-gun, Busan, Ju said the number of invalid votes was listed as 225 on the tally sheet but only 4 in the digital record.

Ju also pointed to large gaps in voter counts. In the fourth precinct of Songdo 4-dong in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, the tally sheet listed 5,871 eligible voters while the digital record showed 3,790. In the first precinct of Jeonha 1-dong in Dong-gu, Ulsan, the digital figure of 3,717 exceeded the tally sheet's count of 1,701, Ju's office said.

Ju characterized the discrepancies as "false entries" by the National Election Commission and called for the abolition of early voting and the detention and investigation of those responsible. Ju plans to visit the special prosecutor's office Monday afternoon to hand over the materials. Earlier, on Oct. 25, Ju had claimed that tally sheets and digital records differed at 41 precincts in the greater Seoul area; the latest review expanded the scope to the entire country.

However, the materials Ju presented alone are not sufficient to establish intentional manipulation, actual changes to vote totals, or any effect on election outcomes. How the discrepancies between handwritten documents and digital records arose — and whether they were reflected in the final tallies — would need to be verified by cross-referencing the original data against entry and revision logs. Ju acknowledged that a thorough investigation by the special prosecutor would be necessary.