CAGE and Civic Groups Watch Election Outcome Closely

The Citizens' Alliance for the 2000 General Elections (CAGE) leaders cast their votes in the morning and kept a close watch over the results of the voting at their offices in Chongno-gu Anguk-dong, Seoul.

CAGE has set up a "war room" that looks exactly like a the war room of a political party to monitor the voting results of the 86 black-listed candidates.

As the results of the voting rolled in and candidates included in their rejection list came closer to being defeated, CAGE workers began putting red roses next to the names of candidates who seemed destined to lose.

When it became clear that candidates included among the 22 must-be-rejected list, candidates who were subjected to an intensive "man to man" rejection campaign by CAGE, were sure to be defeated CAGE workers shook hands and gave each other a pat on the back for their successful efforts.

On the other hand, upon seeing some black-listed candidates leading or nearly sure of winning, they expressed their regret, saying "The political stronghold remains."

CAGE co-chairman Choi Yul cast his vote in advance at a poll set up in Kil 2-dong at the Samik Apartment complex in Seoul, around 8:15 a.m. Greeting the Central Election Management Committee employees, Choi said, "This election is significant in that the political culture, which has been monopolized by the politicians until now, is being changed towards enlarged public participation." Adding, "Politicians subject to the rejection campaign should take a moment to reflect upon what this means."

CAGE raised $314,205 from 5,667 supporters, of which $293,616 was used to print posters and flyers for the rejection campaign.

The Citizen's Coalition for Economic Justice director Lee Suk-yun voted, with his wife, at a polling station in Ilwon-dong, saying, "I wish the 13th will go down in history as the day of the voters' glorious revolution, when the old political order was overthrown."

Meanwhile, Korea NGO has concentrated their efforts onto keeping watch over the election and informing the public of specifics concerning candidates, posted an election surveillance team on the spot, not slackening their surveillance to the end. Some ten officials of the Korea NGO watched over the voting outcomes at their office in Chongno-gu Dongsung-dong, Seoul.

by Park Shin-hong