By Cynthia Kim, Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, June 12 (Reuters) - Arriving to cast her vote in South Korea's local elections, Yoomi Lee was surprised to find the polling station had run out of ballot papers, turning the quick stop she had planned into an hours-long wait and quarrels with election officials.
"They should have prepared the right amount," Lee said. "They know the number of the voters (expected)."
Frustration over the shortages at more than 90 polling sites last week unleashed one
of South Korea's most extensive political protests since its martial law crisis in 2024.
Voters scuffled with police, conspiracy theories and accusations of election fraud spread, and the poll authority chief resigned, prompting President Lee Jae Myung Lee to order an investigation and vow to overhaul procedures.
Reuters interviews with six voters at affected ballot stations and more than a dozen protesters show how a straightforward landslide victory expected by Lee's ruling party erupted in damaging contention instead.
The effort also illustrates how a series of decisions by the independent National Election Commission led it to print fewer ballots than in previous years.
RISK TO PUBLIC CONFIDENCE
Within two days of the debacle, crowds sometimes numbering 40,000 began gathering daily outside a stadium in Seoul to demand an election rerun.
Such an exercise could endanger key election wins for both Lee's left-leaning ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP), despite the investigation calls.
"If the response is perceived as inadequate or defensive, it could become a source of criticism and weaken public confidence," said Joan Cho, a professor at Wesleyan University who studies the Korean democracy movement.
However, if the Lee administration responds transparently and provides a clear account of what happened, it could reinforce public confidence, she added.
For now the imbroglio seems to have benefited the opposition, as the first opinion poll by Realmeter after the election showed it nearly erasing the gap in its support to less than 1% versus the DPP's lead of nearly 25% late in March.
A perception of "administrative responsibility for the ballot shortage" was partly responsible, Realmeter said.
The shortages were especially severe in areas that lean conservative, said opposition leader Jang Dong-hyeok of the PPP.
DEMONSTRATING FOR THE FIRST TIME
Several protesters said they were demonstrating for the first time as the election panel's explanation failed to convince and they saw it as a trampling on their fundamental right to participate in the political process.
"At first it was concern about the ballot shortage," said one such first-timer, 41-year-old office worker Cha Ye-rin.
"But after coming here and talking to people, I am more certain about how democracy is under threat by the people in power."
The protests have run through the week, with the numbers tending to swell in the evenings and far-right Youtube personalities as well as PPP figures joining in.
Democratic rights in South Korea have been hard won, making citizens wary of any perceived threats, such as the attempt to declare martial law in 2024.
Democracy Day on June 10, for example, marks the citizen-led nationwide protests of 1987 that successfully ended decades of military rule and forced the government to hold direct presidential elections.
RESIGNATION FAILED TO DEFUSE PROTEST
Even Thursday's resignation by Rho Tae-ak, a former Supreme Court justice who had been chief of the NEC since April 2022, before Lee took power last year, failed to assuage protesters.
Tempers flared on election day in Seoul's southeastern district of Songpa, where the shortage dragged out voting by four hours to 10 p.m., voters at a polling station in a senior citizens' centre said. Even then, few were able to vote.
Cho Eun-kyung, 67, said she was among those who began protesting before a standoff with polling station staff as more people arrived to block officials from taking away ballot boxes for vote counting.
Human chains around the polling station were dispersed by police on Friday, she said, while videos from other residents showed police pulling away a few dozen protesters blocking entrances.
Seoul police said they had no separate comment on the clashes with protesters around the voting station.
People streamed across the capital to join a crowd outside the stadium where the ballot boxes were gathered for counting, as social media and students from top universities warned of a threat to democracy.
Young couples with small babies in prams, gig workers and university students were among those holding hand-lettered signs demanding "Election Rerun", a phrase they chanted while pumping their fists in the air.
Some said their frustration grew as votes were being counted from 6 p.m. on election day, even though others had been unable to vote.
The spectre of election manipulation figures in conspiracy theories that spread on social media, with even the conservative mayor of the port city of Incheon questioning some results.
FEWER BALLOT PAPERS PRINTED
Asked how many people were unable to vote, an NEC official said the panel did not have that data, as it was unclear if complete records were kept of those who left without voting when the shortage happened.
The official declined to be identified on grounds that accusations of election fraud, among other issues, were a sensitive topic.
For Wednesday's election, the NEC set a minimum ballot printing guideline of 50% of eligible voters, the official said.
That contrasts with figures of a minimum of 70% traditionally printed for presidential elections, and 60% for local elections, which draw lower turnout, the official added.
The 50% guideline was backed by a task force set up last year to improve procedures, after a similar study commissioned in 2022 that weighed the number of ballots.
Higher advance voting and accusations of "concealing evidence of election fraud" fed by large numbers of leftover ballots in prior years also contributed, the official added.
"These various factors combined and led to the result we have today."
GROWING CALLS FOR RERUN
Lee's Democratic Party swept most of the seats in the elections for mayors, provincial governors, county officers and members of local assemblies, but lost the crucial Seoul mayoral role to the opposition incumbent.
The only solution would be "to hold a nationwide re-election", the PPP's Jang said, though some in his party oppose such a step, including Seoul's re-elected mayor, Oh Se-hoon.
The NEC official said the relevant law, the Public Official Election Act, did not include ballot shortages among the conditions for an election rerun, making it difficult for the commission to hold one of its own volition.
"At the very least, our basic rights must be protected," said Gu Young-gwang, 33, a protester outside the stadium, who said he was joining a political protest for the first time.
"The goal is not revenge," said another protester, Lee Hee-won, 25, calling for a fair and transparent rerun. "The goal is to restore trust in democracy.
(Additional reporting by Minwoo Park, Daewoung Kim, Jihoon Lee, Yena Park, Yunji Ha; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
