No Candidacy for Those Who Violated the Election Law or Had the Election Nullified, Even if Voluntarily Resigned Beforehand

On July 26, the National Election Commission (NEC) announced that if a candidate for Congressman, Head of local government or local representative has been found to be guilty of the charge against the election law because of his/her spouse or finance officer, he/she is disqualified for re-election or by-election.

In NEC’s general meeting, they issued an authoritative interpretation stating that, ``If the illegal violations of the candidate’s wife or finance officer resulted in the invalidation of winning the election, the election law, which has stipulated that no more candidacy should be given for the same year’s election, should be respected in the same point view.

Even if the candidate has resigned before the end of his/her term so that by-election will be held, he/she is not qualified either, as shown in the previous stipulation.``

Thus, Congressman Kim, Hoil, Choi, Donwoong (Grand National Party) and Chang, Sungmin (The Millennium Democratic Party), who were found guilty in the appellate court and lost their positions as Congressman, are not qualified once they are confirmed to be guilty by the Supreme Court, even if they resign by October 8, which is one day earlier than the deadline of the candidate registration for re-election and by-election scheduled on October 25.

According to the law of Public Office election and Prevention of Illegal Election, it is stipulated that if a spouse or finance officer is sentenced imprisonment due to the violation of the election law, the election winning should be invalidated. The responsible candidate must not be qualified in the re-election, which takes place due to his violation.

However, if he/she resigns prior to the finalized sentence, this belongs to a category of `by-election which should be held in cases of resignation or death’. Nevertheless, there have been disputes over the interpretation of the stipulation because it does not clarify the prohibition of the candidacy for those who deliberately resign, like this.

swpark@donga.com