Invalid proportional representation votes hit new record of 1.31 million

Election officials tally the proportional representation votes by hand after the April 10 general election in Daegu. [NEWS1]

The number of invalid proportional representation votes from the April 10 general election reached an all-time high of 1.31 million. This is the highest number since the party voting system was first introduced in 2004.

According to the National Election Commission on Monday, 4.4 percent, or 1,309,931 votes, of the total 28,344,519 proportional representation votes were processed as invalid.

In the latest general election, the conservative People Power Party (PPP)’s satellite People Future Party received the most ballots for proportional representation seats with around 10.4 million votes. It was followed by the liberal Democratic Party (DP)’s satellite Democratic United Party with some 7.57 million votes, the Rebuilding Korea Party with some 6.87 million votes and the Reform Party with some 1.03 million votes.

The invalid proportional representative votes also exceeded the proportional representation ballot of the Reform Party, led by former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, which secured two proportional representation seats.

In other words, the number of invalid votes could have constituted the country’s fourth-largest political party.

The recent general election’s proportion of valid to invalid proportional representation ballots hit a record high since the party voting system was introduced in 2004 for the 17th National Assembly. With the party voting system, voters cast separate votes for a candidate and a political party.

In the previous system, voters could only cast one vote to represent both a candidate and a political party.

The number of invalid proportional representation votes was under 1 million until 2015, when the parliamentary election for the 20th National Assembly was held.

For the 17th National Assembly, the inaugural year with the party voting system, there were about 290,000 invalid votes. At the 18th National Assembly, some 280,000 votes were invalidated.

The number increased per general election, as invalid party votes for the 19th National Assembly reached some 470,000 and about 670,000 for the 20th National Assembly.

The percentage of invalid votes varied from one to two percent of the total votes counted.

However, during the 2020 general election for the 21st National Assembly, the number of invalid votes surged to 1.23 million following the implementation of a new "semi-mixed-member" proportional representation system.

The new system was introduced to help minor parties boost their presence in the parliament through better seat distribution.

This year’s general election broke the record for the highest number and proportion of invalid votes.

Though voters had more choices as 38 political parties registered for proportional representation slots, the number of invalid votes increased.

Some claim that voters cast an invalid vote due to their disappointment with the indiscreet establishment of proportional parties and the satellite party system. Major parties have been criticized for sending some of their lawmakers out of the party to create temporary satellite parties. Some lawmakers later merge their parties to their original party after the election.

Others claim that the length of the ballot made voters incorrectly stamp their ballots due to the space between each row shrinking to accommodate for the number of candidates.

The recent general election’s proportional representative election ticket was recorded as Korea’s longest-ever ballot at 51.7 centimeters (20.3 inches).

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]