SEOUL-- More than 900 people have been indicted or are under prosecution investigations for alleged irregularities related to this week's local elections, including dozens of successful candidates, the prosecution said Thursday.
They were among 1,003 people booked on official election act violation charges related to Wednesday's elections so far, according to the Supreme Prosecutors Office.
Of them, the prosecution formally indicted 32, eight of them under detention, while dropping cases against 93 others. The remaining 878 are currently under investigation, it said.
Among those under investigation are three governors-elect, six education superintendents-elect and 39 others elected for mayorship and district and county heads, the prosecution said
They include Seoul education superintendent-elect Cho Hee-yeon and Gyeonggi Governor-elect Kim Dong-yeon of the main opposition Democratic Party.
Nearly 34 percent, or 339, of those booked are facing charges of rigging public opinion, including the dissemination of misinformation, followed by bribery at 32 percent.
The prosecution said the latest tally of 1,003 booked cases marks a fall of 52.5 percent from the 2,113 cases booked in the 2018 local elections.
Separately, the prosecution is also looking into 41 other people for alleged irregularities related to parliamentary by-elections held concurrently with local elections on Wednesday, including Lee Jae-myung of the DP, Ahn Cheol-soo of the ruling People Power Party and one more lawmaker-elect, it said. Lee and Ahn each won a seat for Incheon's Gyeyang-B district and the Bundang-A district of Seongnam, respectively.
Police earlier said they have arrested nine people for alleged bribery and other irregularities related to the local elections.
Among 1,517 people the police investigated for election law violation charges, 430 were investigated for allegedly spreading falsehoods, followed by 338 for taking bribes and 217 for damaging banners.
Of the nine arrested people, four were charged with taking cash or gifts, three for allegedly using violence, one for allegedly damaging banners and one for spreading false propaganda, police said.
Police officials said they will conduct thorough investigations into all election-related violations in close cooperation with the prosecution in light of the fact that the statute of limitation for election-related violations is six months.
Source: Yonhap News Agency