Seoul, June 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) Protests demanding a rerun of the June 3 local elections marred by ballot paper shortages entered the 17th day Sunday at a ballot counting site in southern Seoul.
Protesters continued to chant slogans and hold pickets claiming election fraud outside SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul's southern ward of Songpa, which was used as a ballot counting site for the elections.
As many as 34,000 people were gathered at the venue as of 3:30 pm, with those in their 20s and 30s accounting for more than half of the total, according to an estimate by the Seoul city government, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The protests began June 5, two days after ballot shortages temporarily suspended voting at 26 polling stations.
While the National Election Commission (NEC) has apologised for the ballot shortages, it says they do not warrant a rerun under the election law. A joint team of police investigators and prosecutors has been investigating the NEC over the shortages.
The government has urged people taking part in the protests to refrain from illegal acts, saying that while peaceful rallies should be protected, illegal acts of violence will not be tolerated.
On June 11, South Korea's National Assembly on Thursday launched formal procedures for a potential parliamentary investigation into ballot shortages reported during local elections, with requests for the probe submitted by both the ruling and opposition parties being reported to a plenary session.
The head of the Proceedings Division of the National Assembly Secretariat said that the requests for a parliamentary probe were submitted separately by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), with all lawmakers from each party sponsoring their respective requests.
The move marks the first step toward establishing a special parliamentary committee to examine allegations of mismanagement by the National Election Commission during the voting process.
The establishment of the committee is expected to undergo negotiations, as proposals from the DP and the PPP differed over the scope of the probe and the number of seats to be allotted to each party on the committee.
The PPP has argued that a separate special counsel probe should be launched alongside the parliamentary investigation, while the DP has maintained that such a move should be considered after the parliamentary probe.
In a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, the rival parties shared a consensus on holding a plenary session as early as next week to adopt a plan for the parliamentary probe, according to officials.
Separately, the PPP's new floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig met with Hong Ik-pyo, presidential secretary for political affairs, and stressed the need for a special counsel probe into the incident.
Hong said the presidential office would be open to the idea of a special counsel investigation if the rival parties reach an agreement, according to PPP spokesperson Choi Soo-jin.
Source: IANS
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