NEC to Unveil Its Election Expenditures on the Internet

The National Election Commission (NEC) has decided to provide information on the general election via the internet starting from March 31 when candidate registration officially begins.

In order to support this service, the NEC, on March 30, has organized a computer system for the election that will inform the electorate of candidate registration other relevant procedures. In addition, the NEC will manage a 24-hour situation room for the general election to efficiently deal with the election. The situation room will command everything connected to the election such as candidate registration, reports of election law violations, corruption regulation, and the official ballot count.

From April 2, NEC has also decided that they will disclose the daily election expenditures of every candidate on the internet. With this exceptional measure, the NEC will unveil the names of election law offenders to the public. In case a candidate, candidate’s wife or siblings, or a candidate’s accountant or chief secretary for the election campaign violate the law, their real names will be posted and available to the press.

The NEC disclosed the names of 545 out of 1341 preparatory candidates who had promised the NEC they would open their political funds and election expenditures by 2 p.m. on March 30, but who failed to do so by the deadline.

In classification by party, the Grand National Party accounts for 49 out of 229 candidates, the Millennium Democratic Party 103 out of 237, the Open Uri Party 85 out of 289, the United Liberal Democrats 67 out of 116, the Democratic Labor Party 59 out of 129, and independent politicians 149 out of 303.

In particular, the GNP’s chief election executive Lee Sang-deuk, the MDP’s chief Chough Soon-hyung, the MDP’s chief election executive Choo Mi-ae, the Open Uri Party’s chief of clean election committee Chun Jung-bae, the OUP’s congressman Yoo Si-min, and the ULD’s chief election executive Kim Hak-won have not reported their election expenses, showing the high level of reluctance to disclose election expenses.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com