South Korea: Demand for re-voting amid allegations of election rigging, thousands of protesters took to the streets

South Korea Seoul Election Protest In Hindi: Claims of alleged rigging in the local elections held last week in South Korea’s capital Seoul have raised questions on the country’s democratic system. Thousands of protesters have been camping outside the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa district, in the eastern part of the capital, for the past three days. These protesters clearly believe that the election process was not transparent and they are now demanding fresh elections.

Protestors surrounded

According to the information, till Sunday afternoon around 3,000 people had gathered at the protest site, although on Saturday this number had reached close to 30,000. The protesters have surrounded all the eight entrances of the gymnasium complex to prevent any tampering with the ballot boxes kept inside.

They are continuously raising slogans in support of re-holding elections. Amidst this tense situation, about 20 to 30 election officials managed to escape from there on Saturday but the National Election Commission (NEC) has not yet given any official confirmation on this.

shortage of ballot paper

Reports of election chaos in the capital Seoul began emerging on Wednesday, with ballot papers running low at more than 12 polling stations, including in key areas of Seoul such as Songpa and Gangnam. Due to this shortage, voting had to be stopped for several hours and many voters, disappointed, returned without casting their vote. Taking responsibility for the administrative failure, National Election Commission Chairman Roh Tae-ak and Secretary-General Heo Cheol-hoon offered to resign from their posts on Friday.

sharp attitude of the opposition

The main opposition party, the People Power Party (PPP), described the protests as a ‘peaceful civil resistance movement’ Have agreed. Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok held a press conference in the National Assembly demanding that mere investigation or changing officials will not calm public anger, but re-election is the only solution.

He has proposed immediate talks with President Lee Jae-myung on this issue. The opposition has also warned the President that if he goes on his scheduled trip to Europe without resolving the crisis, he will face more widespread public protests.

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President expressed displeasure

President Lee Jae-myung has also expressed his strong displeasure over the functioning of the Election Commission and expressed regret over this entire incident. He has instructed the officials to get to the bottom of this mess and fix the accountability of the culprits. At present, tension remains on the streets of Seoul and the eyes of the whole world are fixed on the solution to this election crisis of South Korea.