Tension in College of Social Science between Election Commission and Candidates

“Sasim Pokpal,” election candidates for College of Social Science, calls for the dissolution of the 21st Election Commission of Social Science (ECSS). The conflict was triggered by the ECSS’s decision to disqualify Sasim Pokpal, arguing that they violated the election rules. The candidates in turn accused that ECSS’s decision was unreasonable and started their protest, demanding the dissolution of the ECSS.
On Nov. 10, Sasim Pokpal was declared invalid by the ECSS on the grounds that the former had not complied with the warnings given by the commission. The warnings concerned Sasim Pokpal’s violation of the election rules regarding thier campaign location and the registration of campaigners. The ECSS stated that candidates should only hold their campaigns within the Ewha-POSCO Building, the official building of the College of Social Science. However, Sasim Pokpal planned to hold a campaign in the Ewha Campus Complex. The ECSS also gave warnings on unregistered campaigners, and claimed that Sasim Pokpal provided the ECSS with false information in the list of registered campaigners.
On the same day, the ECSS similarly disqualified the “Jeongtong” election candidates for the Politics and Diplomacy Department. It was found that Jeongtong had not complied with the warning given to them by the ECSS regarding usage of an undesignated color on their promotion poster. According to the election rules, when candidates fail to adhere to the warning within three hours, their candidacy will be revoked. The ECSS concluded that the candidates had failed to make relevant changes within the given time, invalidating the candidates. Jeongtong protested and submitted evidence that they had complied with the warning in due time. As a result, the ECSS withdrew their ruling and the candidates regained their candidacy.
However, Sasim Pokpal was not able to regain their candidacy and continued to protest against the ECSS’s decision. The candidates stated that the ECSS had not properly notified the candidates of the election rules, and that therefore it was unfair to give warnings based on those rules.
“When we asked to see the election rules on Oct. 16, the ECSS refused,” the candidates said through a hand-written poster posted in the POSCO Building. “On Oct. 26, they did post the rules on the notice-board in the POSCO Building, but we feel that it was still not accessible enough.”
To such accusations, the ECSS issued the following statement:
“We didn’t show Sasim Pokpal the election rules when they asked because we were unable to,” the ECSS said. “On Oct. 16, this year’s ECSS had not completely taken over last year’s ECSS yet, so the rules for the 21st election had not been fully established. However, after the rules were confirmed, we posted them publicly on the notice-board and distributed handouts to those who were interested.”
In the end, the ECSS refused to reinstate Sasim Pokpal and Sasim Pokpal refused to withdraw its accusation against the ECSS. The conflict continued throughout the election period on Nov. 19 and 20.