중앙선거관리위원회에 대하여 최근 제기되는 문제점 분석과 개선방안에 관한 연구 - 정치적 편향성 논란과 감사원 직무감찰대상 문제를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Recently, two issues have come to the forefront surrounding the National Election Commission. They are the issue of political bias and whether the NEC is subject to inspect by the Board of Audit and Inspection(BAI) For the implementation of a democratic election system and the full realization of people's right to suffrage, it is essential to maintain the political neutrality of the Election Commission, which is responsible for managing the election. The NEC, which has been relatively politically neutral since the implementation of the current constitution, has been unable to maintain its political neutrality due to various factors, including the intensification of political confrontation under the two-party system since 2010, and has frequently shown a bias in favor of the government and the ruling party, but since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration in 2017, this bias has intensified and has become a political issue on several occasions. Adding to the problem of political bias, in 2023, suspicions of preferential hiring of children of former and current officials of the Election Commission surfaced and became a major social issue. As a result, there has been a strong public opinion that the BAI should take action against these suspicions, and the legal issue of whether the NEC is an organization subject to inspect by the BAI has emerged. In this paper, we argue that the structural cause of the NEC's political bias is that eight of the nine members of the NEC are non-executive, while one member appointed by the president is executive. In addition, we found that the long-standing practice of having a sitting Supreme Court justice serve as chairman of the NEC also indirectly contributes to the NEC's political bias. We proposed a remediation plan to make all members of the NEC, and to allow the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to nominate a person who has served on the Supreme Court to serve on the Election Commission, with that nominee serving as chairman of NEC. On the other hand, it was argued that the NEC could not be considered as an organization subject to inspect. As an improvement plan, it was suggested that internal irregularities or negligence of duties of the NEC should be entrusted to the NEC's internal audit activities first, and if internal control is insufficient, external control by the National Assembly or investigative agencies should be considered.