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Yonsei voids 58th student council election results after misconduct allegations

Published: 15 Dec. 2025, 19:50

A student walks past the main gate of Yonsei University's Seoul campus in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, on Nov. 10. [NEWS1]

Yonsei University’s student council election was declared invalid due to allegations of misconduct, the university's student council election commission said on Monday.

The university’s central election commission announced the central steering committee's ruling on social media on Monday, confirming the disqualification of the elected candidates — thereby voiding the election results.

On Dec. 9, a student surnamed Bae and their running mate surnamed Choi from the campaign group “NEST” won the election for the 58th student council.

However, controversy arose after it was revealed that members of NEST had met with representatives of the general club council, a student organization, during the election period to discuss strategies such as sending text messages en masse to encourage voting.

Because election rules require over 50 percent of the undergraduate population to be in attendance for votes to be counted, the meeting was seen as an attempt to raise turnout and secure a valid election.

The commission concluded that NEST and the general club council had jointly devised strategies and divided roles to benefit a specific campaign group, significantly undermining the fairness of the election. As a result, it issued a warning to NEST on Thursday.

Further allegations surfaced that members of NEST had contacted a student election commissioner, and the commission ultimately decided to invalidate the election.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]