National Assembly to Launch Probe into Ballot Shortage During Local Elections

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- The National Assembly was set to launch a parliamentary probe Thursday into an unprecedented shortage of ballots reported during the recent local elections.

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) earlier agreed to seek parliamentary approval for the investigation plan and the appointment of members to a special committee that will oversee the probe.

If approved at a plenary session later in the day, the 45-day parliamentary investigation will formally kick off to look into the ballot shortage incident reported at more than a dozen polling stations in Seoul during the June 3 local elections.

The National Election Commission has acknowledged that at least 26 polling stations nationwide had experienced at least a temporary shortage of ballot papers on election day.

The committee, preemptively formed under an agreement between the rival parties, will be chaired by a PPP lawmaker and consist of nine members from the DP, seven from the main opposition party and two from non-negotiating parties. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the PPP has been nominated to chair the panel.

On Tuesday, the DP and the PPP agreed to launch the parliamentary investigation into the election watchdog and its regional offices after reaching a compromise on the scope of the probe and the number of committee seats to be allotted to each party.

The PPP had initially called for a broader investigation, including a separate special counsel probe, while the DP maintained that such a move should be considered after a parliamentary investigation.

The presidential office and police, which the PPP earlier sought to include in the investigation, have also been excluded from the scope of the probe.