The NHRCK (Ahn, Kyong-whan, Chairperson) expressed its deep concern towards the upcoming election of the Seoul Education Superintendent to be held on July 30 2008, with most of its election site being set up in religious institutions. On July 28, 2008, the Commission conveyed its opinion urging the National Election Committee to change this practice in the future
Under Article 147 of the Public Offices Election Act, the NHRCK made recommendations to the National Election Commission in March 2008, not to set up voting booths in religious institutions unless there is an inevitable reason for not being able to find adequate location.
The National Election Commission responded that there is a plan in place to minimize the use of religious institution as voting booths. However, it added that the final decision on the matter will depend on the decision of the Constitutional Court, since there is a pending appeal (2008-207) on this matter.
However, the NHRCK felt it necessary to raise the issue because out of 2,189 voting booths in total 397 are located in religious institutions or 18.1% of the total number, which is a considerable increase from the 17th Presidential Election (December 2007) and the 18th General Election (April 2008).
