Seoul, South Korea. More than 6,000 people protested on Friday night at a vote counting centre in Seoul over a shortage of ballot papers that disrupted local elections, with demonstrators demanding a re-run, according to Yonhap news agency. The protest followed voting disruptions in multiple districts and the resignation announcement by the head of the National Election Commission.
Protest at counting centre
The crowd gathered at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium, where votes from Wednesday’s local elections were being counted, Yonhap reported, citing unofficial police estimates. Livestreams showed people chanting and carrying placards reading “Re-run!” alongside national flags.
Seoul police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Election commission chief to step down
Earlier on Friday, National Election Commission head Roh Tae-ak said he would step down to take responsibility for the shortage of ballot papers in some districts.
He said there could be no excuse for a failure that had harmed the public and its commitment to the democratic process and had created distrust.
Voting disruptions and shortages
An NEC official later told a briefing that ballot papers ran out at 50 of the country’s 14,300 polling stations and had to be restocked. Voting was also disrupted at 22 polling stations because of delays in receiving supplies.
At some locations, voters waited for hours into the night after polls officially closed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. At one polling station in Seoul’s Songpa district, an angry crowd set up a blockade and prevented officials from taking ballot boxes to the stadium after voting ended.
Count concluded on Friday
Protesters remained in the rain until Friday morning, when hundreds of police escorted commission officials to retrieve the final two ballot boxes. The count officially ended on Friday afternoon.
Explanation from officials
The NEC official said ballot papers had been printed for only 50% of eligible voters because of high turnout during two days of early voting last week. The official said that across the three days of voting, there had been enough ballot papers for 73% of eligible voters.
Government officials conceded that the incident amounted to a failure to safeguard the public’s democratic rights.