By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Some 53 winners of the general election may lose their seats leading to by-elections due to illegal campaigning. Lawsuits over nullifications of elections are also likely to be filed from candidates who failed to be elected due to close margins.

The Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday a total of 53 successful candidates are under investigation for violations of election campaign laws. It dropped two cases, and four of them were already indicted. Other 47 and eight of their spouses and campaigners are under scrutiny.

The prosecution expects the number of election winners booked on charges of violating election laws will increase, saying ``We plan to take more strict and rapid measures on the election law irregularities. Many of the cases will be decided within a month.’’

Election laws stipulate that the elected candidates should be stripped of their lawmaker positions when they are sentenced to over 1 million won of fines for violating campaign laws or when their spouses and campaigners are sentenced to over 3 million won of fines for the same charge.

They also lose their seats when their auditors use over 0.5 percent of limited campaigning costs regulated by laws, or when they are handed down over 3 million won of fines for registering false personal or career history.

Uri Party candidate Ei Sang-rak, who was elected in Songnam, Kyonggi Province, is facing a nullification of his selection, as he was indicted for deceiving his schooling history. Ei hasn’t received any formal schooling due to poverty, but he registered a false schooling history saying that he graduated a high school in Poryong, South Chungchong Province.

Those successful candidates’ indictments are expected to bring about by-elections on June 5 or October 30. A total of 11 by-elections were conducted for 2000’s general election, and six for 1996 polls.

Lawsuits by unsuccessful candidates over the nullification of elections and requests for the re-counting of votes will also increase, as some of them closely lost the Assembly seats by less than a thousand votes.

Uri Party candidate Park Ki-eok, who lost to United Liberal Democratic candidate Kim Nak-sung by only nine votes in Tang-jin, South Chungchong Province, filed a petition yesterday calling for a re-count, claiming there had been mistakes in the vote counting.

The election watchdog accepts re-counting requests to prevent misunderstandings, but many unsuccessful candidates are likely to file lawsuits for nullification with concerns that the new ballot counting machines may have malfunctioned.

For the 2000 general election, seven lawsuits were filed for the nullification of elected candidates, including Moon Hak-jin of then Millennium Democratic Party who lost by only three votes. However, there were no changes of success or loss in the polls.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr