Seoul: A court on Tuesday issued an order to preserve evidence on ballot boxes related to the unprecedented shortage of ballot papers that disrupted voting in parts of Seoul during last week's local elections. The Seoul Eastern District Court accepted a petition filed by Kim Jung-chul, the supreme council member of the minor Reform Party, to ensure the preservation of boxes and other items related to the ballot shortage.

According to Yonhap News Agency, a total of four items from the No. 2 polling station in the Jamsil 7 neighborhood, Songpa Ward, will be placed under the order, including the boxes and surveillance camera footage of the polling station, as per the court's decision. Records of messages and texts sent among employees of the National Election Commission (NEC) when the ballot shortage occurred were also placed under the order, the court added.

However, the court rejected other petitions to preserve evidence, including ballot boxes that were moved to another counting center. Ballot shortages were reported at more than a dozen polling stations in Seoul during the local elections, mostly from Songpa Ward of southern Seoul, prompting a temporary suspension of voting.

Protestors have been rallying outside a vote-counting facility in Seoul for the fifth day, demanding a rerun of last week's local elections.