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Song Eon-seok, floor leader of the People Power Party, announces a filibuster on four bills after a party caucus ahead of the plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on September 25. / Source: Yonhap News

At a National Assembly plenary session on September 25, the ruling and opposition parties collided after four contentious bills were put to a fast-track vote and the number of voting slips failed to match the number of nameplates. People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers cried “this is why people talk about rigged elections,” while the Democratic Party (DP) shot back, “you must have slipped in an extra ballot,” as the chamber devolved into shouting and protests.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Assembly placed four items on the fast-track: two bills to split the Ministry of Economy and Finance into a Planning & Budget Office and a Ministry of Economy and Finance (revisions to the Act on the Management of Public Institutions and the Statistics Act), along with amendments to the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers Act and the Act on Courtesy for Democratic Merit Recipients.

The flashpoint came on the “Democratic Merit Recipients” bill, where 274 nameplates were counted but 275 ballots were found. The PPP demanded a re-vote, alleging “irregular voting” and “fraud,” while the DP countered that the uproar was of the PPP’s making. The floor dissolved into heckling and objections.

Speaker Woo Won-shik rejected the PPP’s demand, saying, “Under Article 114 of the National Assembly Act, even if ballots exceed nameplates, a re-vote is not required if the discrepancy does not affect the result,” and proceeded with the count.

The PPP immediately objected, seeking a re-vote and invalidation of the count. Some lawmakers mounted the rostrum to remonstrate with the Speaker, while DP lawmakers retorted, “Are you trying to wreck the proceedings?” Citing the Assembly rules, Woo said the count would continue and, after tabulation, the chair would decide whether to re-vote or invalidate depending on whether the discrepancy affected the outcome.

Addressing the extra ballot, Woo said, “Even as Speaker I cannot know. If I did, that would itself be ‘irregular voting.’ Someone may have mistakenly received two ballots and cast both,” adding, “If excluding that one ballot does not change the result, we will deem it valid and proceed.” He later declared, “the difference does not affect the outcome,” announcing passage with 182 votes in favor and 93 against out of 275 ballots cast.

The PPP also protested the count on the whistleblower-protection amendment, arguing that two ballots tallied as “yes” should have been invalid. If both were voided, the measure would fail because a fast-track designation requires 180 votes—two-thirds of sitting members—under Assembly rules. The tally stood at 180 in favor, 92 against, and two invalid.

Speaking to reporters after the uproar, PPP floor leader Song Eon-seok signaled legal action. Condemning what he called the Speaker’s “assault on parliamentary democracy,” he said, “Despite clear grounds for suspecting irregular voting, the Speaker waved the National Assembly Act to claim nothing was wrong and rammed it through.”

He added, “When ballots exceed nameplates, the Speaker—the official ultimately responsible for ballot management—should first express regret, reflect, and apologize,” and criticized the handling of two hard-to-decipher ballots in the whistleblower vote that were nevertheless counted as “yes,” saying, “Had those two been voided, the measure should have failed.”

“By abusing his authority, the Speaker turned a measure that should have failed into one that passed,” Song said, vowing that the PPP would “pursue subsequent legal steps.”

Meanwhile, PPP Rep. Park Su-min launched a filibuster against the government-reorganization amendment on the plenary agenda. Park holds the record for the longest filibuster, having spoken for 15 hours and 50 minutes last August to oppose the “₩250,000 for all citizens” bill.