The National Election Commission presents its own reform plan, including a full-time chairperson system and legislation for an audit body.

Mention of improvement measures in the National Assembly work report… Strengthening external supervision by legislating audit organizations, etc.

The chairman was made full-time and the National Assembly Election Management Evaluation Committee was established... Complete review of ballot printing rate

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Joo-seong = The National Election Commission, which is on the verge of major reform due to the so-called ballot paper shortage, presented its own reform measures, including the introduction of a full-time chairman system, legalization of an audit body, and the establishment of an independent election management evaluation committee in the National Assembly.

In addition, ▲ legislating a government-wide support system ▲ operating a consultative body for promoting national election support ▲ complete review of the ballot printing rate were also mentioned.

On this day, the National Election Commission mentioned this plan in a work report submitted to the 'National Assembly Investigation Special Committee for Investigation into the Truth of Violations of People's Suffrage Rights and Election Management Reform', saying, "We will seek ways to improve all systems that can strengthen the fairness and accountability of elections, but we will actively prepare and implement our own improvement plans that can be implemented immediately even before legislation."

The National Election Commission reported that, as a self-improvement measure, it will first completely review the ballot printing rate, which caused the ballot paper shortage, and systematically improve the overall ballot paper management, including securing a printing company and printing, storage, distribution, and post-management.

He also said that when establishing or changing major policies related to election management, a risk assessment will be conducted in advance after review by a deliberation committee composed of external experts.

In relation to this, the National Election Commission self-assessed that the cause of the shortage of ballot papers in the June 3 local elections was that the response, including identifying remaining ballots at each polling station, was insufficient in a situation where voter turnout on the day of the local election was increasing, and that it was unable to respond in a timely manner due to the absence of a detailed response manual.

As measures to improve legislative policy, the National Election Commission proposed strengthening expertise and responsibility in decision-making, such as introducing a full-time chairperson system and multiple standing committee members, and establishing a tentatively named 'Election Management Evaluation Committee' to independently evaluate election management under the National Assembly Standing Committee.

In addition, it was announced that the National Election Commission Audit Committee, which is currently a deliberation body under the rules, will be legislated as an independent consensus-based decision-making body, while also promoting measures to strengthen independence by including external members such as recommendations from political parties when forming the audit committee.

The National Election Commission also reported to the National Assembly that a system to jointly support manpower, facilities, and equipment necessary for election management should be legislated at the government-wide level, and that a plan to operate a national election support promotion consultative body to discuss such issues should be considered.