Electoral Miscount Claim — Is It True? Read More

● 2026 Seoul Campus Election: KHU:EST Leads Amid Heated Races and Electoral Misconduct Claims

The election for the 58th Kyung Hee University (KHU) Seoul Campus General Student Association (GSA) has been declared invalid. At the second extraordinary Expanded Operations Committee (EOC) meeting held on December 4, the motion to “declare the election for the 58th KHU Seoul Campus GSA invalid” passed with 71.6% approval. This brings the allegations of irregularities in last month's election process to an official conclusion.

Suspicions of Fraudulent Voting Emerge

On November 26, the vote counting for the 58th Seoul Campus GSA Election took place. At 6:03 p.m., one hour before the scheduled start of counting, there was a complaint from a student from the School of Dance, reporting that a vote had already been cast under their name, even though they had not voted. The Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) delayed the vote counting by one hour to ascertain the facts.

Through investigation, the CEMC confirmed via CCTV footage that a KHU:EST campaign staff member was the only observer present at the School of Dance polling station during the management committee member’s absence. The staff member was recorded using a personal laptop and entering the interior of the polling station eight times.

Although additional investigation and data verification took time, the CEMC decided to resume the vote counting at 8:00 p.m. During the ongoing vote counting, the CEMC also determined that 13 out of the 17 Dance Department students recorded as having voted during that time had not personally cast their ballots. However, the vote counting continued, and KHU:EST was elected as the 58th Seoul Campus GSA, receiving 4,343 votes (52.52%).

On November 27, the day after the vote counting, the CEMC addressed the details of the fraudulent voting allegation and explained why it decided to resume the count. CEMC stated that it decided to resume counting at 8 p.m. to prevent potential campus chaos and indefinite delays in other unit elections that could arise from the prolonged counting delay.

They further clarified that, based on Article 65, Paragraph 3 of the Election Rules, they judged the alleged irregularities to be violations occurring during the ‘voting process’ rather than the ‘ballot counting process’. Therefore, they interpreted that rectification and final judgment should be made through the objection procedure after the vote counting. CEMC stated it would investigate additional factual circumstances through a comprehensive review of CCTV footage from the polling stations, disclose all findings to voters, and guarantee the objection procedure and immediately implement follow-up measures.

Growing Calls Question the Election’s Legitimacy

On November 27th, KHU:EST issued a statement regarding allegations of election fraud, asserting that the problematic voting was the sole act of a campaign staff member. KnowHow submitted an official objection after final confirmation of the facts, requesting the election be invalidated based on evidence including actual victims, circumstances of personal information theft and proxy voting by KHU:EST campaign staff member, and the possibility of organized misconduct.

The Student Association of the Department of Political Science, the Emergency Response Committee of the Department of Public Administration and Critical Spirit─a journalism club from the Department of Sociology─also issued statements condemning the election fraud allegations, demanding the invalidation of the election results, accountability, and a re-vote.

On November 29th, the CEMC decided to provisionally postpone confirming the election results for the 58th GSA. In an announcement, CEMC stated that at least four instances of fraudulent voting had been confirmed as clear facts, and that additional investigation was necessary. They decided to accept the relevant objections and formally submit the ‘election invalidation’ motion to the EOC.

Subsequently, a comprehensive review of CCTV footage from all offline polling stations across all time slots was conducted. While no additional irregularities were discovered, issues regarding negligence in polling station management were raised.

At the second extraordinary EOC meeting held on December 4, the motion to “declare the election for the 58th KHU Seoul Campus GSA invalid” passed with 71.6% approval.

With the confirmation of fraudulent voting, KHU:EST’s victory has been invalidated. The incident has raised serious concerns about the stability of student self-governance. It also leaves the KHU community with the task of determining what measures are needed to prevent similar problems in the future. Attention is now focused on how the election will be carried out again and what steps will follow.