Citizens Bear Brunt of Election Fines

Election laws stipulate that a citizen who receives money from a future election candidate must pay a fine of 50 times the amount of money he or she received.

The National Election Commission (NEC) has levied a total of 630 million won in fines against 539 people for receiving money from future candidates in the upcoming May local elections. That amounts to about 1,168,000 won per person.

Objections against the fines-

The NEC in Naju city, Jeonnam Province charged a candidate’s aide with giving citizens “presents” recently. The aide is the managing director of a company run by the candidate.

The 289 citizens involved were fined 274 million won.

“That company has been giving us presents for 10 years because of the inconvenience it gives us,” locals said, complaining about the harshness of the fines. “If this is an illegal action as well, then there’ll be no end to the fines.” But the NEC explained, “Since the candidate’s aide is one of the main present givers, this is clearly an illegal act.”

A decision on a fine on members of a housewives’ meeting is being delayed. The members ate a meal that was paid for by a candidate in the provincial elections. But several members said that they thought the new chairwoman of the meeting was buying the meal.

Public opinion that a fine of one million won per person is too much for residents of rural areas has caused delays in fine decisions. An NEC member admitted his agency’s awkward position, saying, “According to existing laws, we must levy a fine.”

Objections to the fines-

Someone levied with a fine of over one million won may make a formal objection within 20 days. The court will then proceed with a trial according to rules applied to non-contentious cases.

A farmer from Bonghwa County, Gyeongbuk Province, and two others received a report to pay a fine of a hundred thousand won. The reason is that these three drank juice bought by a candidate in the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation elections last October. The other two have already paid their fines, but Kim objected, saying he shared his drink with others. The court has reduced Kim’s fine to fifty thousand won.

The Daejeon District Civil Affairs Court has withdrawn a two hundred thousand won fine on Mr. Baek and nine others for having received food and drink from a National Assembly candidate.

The Court explained that, “It was not evident that the food and drink were provided for by the candidates, and also another candidate distributed its name card.”