Voters file for injunction to stop Olympic committee chief election

Officers take away an election-related banner on the Soccer Heart in Seoul, Jan. 7. Yonhap

Eleven voters for the upcoming election for the nationwide Olympic committee president have collectively filed for an injunction to cease the proceedings, citing infringements on their voting rights.

Lee Ho-jin, president of the Korea Ice Hockey Affiliation (KIHA), and 10 different voters for the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) presidential election utilized for the injunction on the Seoul Jap District Courtroom on Tuesday. The 11 officers are amongst 2,244 voters chosen to forged their ballots for the election scheduled for subsequent Tuesday in Seoul.

The incumbent chief Lee Kee-heung is pursuing his third time period and he’s up in opposition to 5 candidates, together with the 2004 Olympic males’s desk tennis champion Ryu Seung-min.

The six candidates are scheduled to provide their closing speeches beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and the voting is scheduled to run for two 1/2 hours afterward.

Lee Ho-jin claimed Wednesday it will not give voters almost sufficient time and it will likely be troublesome for some voters residing far-off from Seoul to reach on time to forged their ballots.

„For the KIHA president election, voting was open from 9 a.m. to five p.m. I assumed the KSOC election can be comparable,“ Lee mentioned. „However once I received the election brochure in mail, I noticed there’s going to be very tight window. And most voters residing properly outdoors Seoul aren’t conscious of this. If solely these residing in and round Seoul get to vote, then it is going to critically harm the equity of the method. This manner of voting goes in opposition to the tide of the time.“

Lee added that the Nationwide Election Fee, which is overseeing the method, ought to have applied on-line voting or arrange voting stations outdoors the capital area.

„I ponder why candidates haven’t raised points with the method,“ Lee mentioned. „If our injunction shouldn’t be granted, then we’ll file one other go well with to nullify the results of the election.“

One other main election in South Korean sports activities this 12 months, that for president of the Korea Soccer Affiliation (KFA), was halted Tuesday, the day earlier than it was scheduled to happen, after the Seoul Central District Courtroom granted an injunction filed by Huh Jung-moo, certainly one of three candidates. Huh questioned the transparency and equity of the election administration course of by the KFA within the days main as much as the vote, and the court docket sided with the previous males’s nationwide group head coach.

Huh utilized for his injunction on Dec. 30 and the court docket introduced its determination eight days later.

With solely six days to go earlier than the KSOC election, the Seoul Jap District Courtroom is confronted with a time crunch.

Lee Jung-ho, an lawyer with the Seoul-based regulation agency Chunwoo who filed the injunction on the voters‘ behalf, admitted the court docket might not have sufficient time to deliberate on the case, nevertheless it was necessary to focus on issues with the election.

„This is a crucial election that selects the one who will oversee South Korean sports activities. Nevertheless it’s questionable whether or not voters‘ opinions have been pretty mirrored within the election setup,“ the lawyer mentioned. „They need to enable for not less than a full day of voting time. Many citizens with day jobs won’t be able to journey from outdoors Seoul. It is a main drawback when they’re solely going to let folks vote onsite.“ (Yonhap)