NEC Set to Use Arbitration to Sanction Election Law Offenders

The National Election Commission (NEC) will use arbitration to ensure sanction of election law breakers, the watchdog said on April 20. “If the offenders are not indicted, we will use arbitration to ensure punishment,” said the NEC.

Under Article 7 of the Election Law, the NEC can file an appeal of a non-indicted election law case to the court which will appoint an arbitrator from among public prosecutors to institute a public action on the cases.

In addition to the arbitration process, the NEC will enforce investigations into the finances of candidates by fully exercising the right to demand financial records from candidates.

The watchdog plans to launch intensive probes into the electoral districts where a slight margin determined the winner and conduct preliminary investigations of candidates’ financial reports along with election campaign monitoring groups.

Under the new law, if candidates or campaign directors surpass the legal limit of election funds by 0.5 percent or gloss over their financial books, they can be charged with three million won in fines and even have their elections nullified.

According to “An Update on Complaints and Probes of Elected Candidates,” an NEC memo Dong-A obtained, about 22 elected candidates are currently under investigation.

Apart from the 22, the NEC already has 37 candidates prosecuted. Pending the court ruling, about 60 candidates may see their elections cancelled.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com