The National Election Commission's special prosecutor is expected to carry out a detailed analysis of the objection ballots as early as next week.

After selecting the ballots that need to be analyzed, we plan to request them to the National Forensic Service and the Public Prosecution Service.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Yun-ju = Special prosecutor Lee Tae-han of the National Election Commission, which is investigating the shortage of ballot papers for the June 3 local elections, will begin a detailed analysis of the ballots taken from the Olympic Park handball stadium on which objections were filed as early as next week.

According to the legal community on the 1st, the special prosecutor's team is analyzing the presence of abnormalities in about 700 ballots that the People Power Party observers raised objections, saying that additional verification is needed, out of the 2.47 million ballots that were taken out after completing public verification at the handball stadium on the 28th and 29th of last month.

Through this, we plan to select ballots that are deemed to require detailed analysis and then request analysis from the National Forensic Service (National Forensic Service) or the Forensic Science Planning Directorate of the Public Prosecution Service (formerly the Supreme Prosecutors' Office) as early as next week.

The subjects of verification are expected to be ballots with damaged surfaces or signs of post-mortem deformation or deterioration.

It was previously reported that the People Power Party observers raised objections to ballots that were stiff without any signs of folding or with faint ink during public verification.

The subject of this detailed appraisal includes not only ballots but also related equipment.

An official from the special investigation team said, “We will take follow-up measures to ensure that no suspicion remains regarding ballots and related equipment that are deemed to require detailed analysis.”

The special investigation team has requested that the National Election Commission preserve the ballots that have not received any objections in their current state. This is a measure in case additional verification is needed in the future.

Ballots that had no objections were moved to a third location, not the National Election Commission, and are stored under the strict supervision of security equipment such as an access control system and closed-circuit (CCTV) TV and security guards stationed 24 hours a day.

The special investigation team explained that from the time it was taken out of the handball stadium, an investigator accompanied it and personally checked the entire process of unloading and putting it away.

Separately from this, the special investigation team is also examining whether there are any signs of external intrusion through the CCTV footage obtained through a search and seizure of the handball stadium on the 27th of last month, the day before the public verification.