As a result of the recount for the Chungju mayoral election in North Chungseong Province, which drew nationwide attention when the outcome was decided by a mere 124 votes, People Power Party winner Lee Dong-seok's retention of the mayoral seat has been finalized. The vote difference decreased by just 2 votes, going from the original 124 votes to 122 votes.

On the 15th, the North Chungcheong Provincial Election Commission fully manually re-tallied approximately 108,000 ballots from the June 3 local election for Chungju mayor at the Korea National University of Transportation gymnasium. The recount results finalized with Mayor Lee Dong-seok receiving 52,961 votes and former Democratic Party candidate Maeng Jung-seop receiving 52,839 votes, resulting in a 122-vote margin. During the re-verification of the 2,277 existing invalid ballots, 2 of Mayor Lee's votes were processed as invalid and 1 of former candidate Maeng's votes was restored, but this did not affect the final outcome.

However, prior to the announcement of the final result determining the winner, the recount site experienced fierce clashes and disruption. Former candidate Maeng had paid the entire 54.87 million won recount cost out of pocket, but immediately before the declaration to begin the recount that day, he strongly demanded the release of scanned ballot image files and confronted the election commission. Election Commission Chairperson Cho Mi-yeon issued three eviction warnings before mobilizing police riot police to forcibly remove former candidate Maeng. Due to this process, the originally scheduled recount barely began after being delayed by about 30 minutes.

Former candidate Maeng's side, which had raised suspicions about credibility immediately after the election by pointing out that the invalid ballots far exceeded ten times the vote margin, was left with bitter results as their demand for transparency during the recount was rejected, they were forcibly evicted, and they ultimately failed to recapture the mayoral seat.

Korea Youth Media Reporter Kim Do-hyung (kimdiagram@kym.io.kr)