Over 88 Percent of Assembly Violated Election Laws

The Central Election Management Commission (CEMC), after reviewing the spending records of candidates in the general elections last April, has reportedly uncovered numerous cases of false reporting by some 200 members of the National Assembly. The members have either reduced or outright omitted expenses that are required to be reported by law.

Previously, CEMC filed a request to the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate 12 ruling party members and 7 opposition members, significantly less than the 200 that are reportedly under suspicion now.

A CEMC official explained on August 27 that 200 National Assembly members were found to be in violation of election laws for failing to submit all receipts during their campaigning or for keeping expense accounts that are not officially authorized.

As for why the CEMC only turned over the names of 19 members of parliament, the commission said that most of the transgressions were nominal and that the irregularities were seemingly unintentional. Those involed were warned, but CEMC did not submit their names to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Since more than 88 percent of the government assembly were found to have violated election laws, public criticism seems inevitable, though the average amount spent in a campaign during the past elections, according to candidates, was 87 million won, far below the legal limit of 120 million won.

by Lee Jung-min