South Korea's Constitutional Court recently voted in favor of a legal clause that bans those found guilty of violating election law from voting for certain periods, court officials said Tuesday.
Five of the nine-member panel ruled that sub-clause 3 of Article 18 in the Public Official Election Act is constitutional, rejecting a complaint filed by Christian pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon. The clause states that those convicted of a fine of 1 million won ($700) or above for breaking the election law shall not be permitted to vote for five years. Those sentenced to imprisonment or a suspended prison term are banned from voting for 10 years from the time their sentence was finalized.
"Restricting voting rights is a sanction against convicts who infringed upon the fairness of the election, and is an effective way to assure fairness," said the Constitutional Court justices with the majority opinion.
They said the clause does not disproportionately invade the subject's right to vote, saying the restricted period cannot be considered too extensive given the frequency of public official elections in the country.
The four justices who deemed the clause unconstitutional said that it treats people convicted of election law violations indiscriminately, without carefully assessing the nature and harm inflicted by each crime. They also said the 10-year period is an extensive amount of time that includes multiple elections, and such punishment deprives the person of opportunities to exercise the most basic of political rights.
In 2018, Jeon was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, for violating the Public Officials Election Act. This stripped him of his rights to vote or campaign for a specific candidate in an election for 10 years. But in 2021, Jeon was accused of campaigning for a specific candidate in the 2022 presidential election, with the court confirming a 2 million won fine last month.
During the trial, Jeon claimed that the 10-year voting ban on him is unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court unanimously voted in favor of another Public Officials Election Act clause that banned individuals from campaigning for a certain candidate in an election, using one's status at his or her job. The clause that banned campaigning outside of the permitted period was also ruled constitutional.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
