How are the Commissioners Selected?

Current Vice-Chairperson Moon Sang-boo

How are the Commissioners Selected?

Without doubt one of the most common questions we are asked during our international events and meetings with election experts from around the world is ‘how are the commissioners chosen at the NEC?’ This may seem a trivial question, but how the decision makers at the NEC are chosen underpins two of the most important values of commission; political neutrality and fairness in elections.

The composition of the commission is neither particularly complicated nor difficult to understand, and is based on the three branches of government (judicial, executive and legislative) having an equal say on who sits in the top positions. So with that in mind, let’s take a detailed look into how the decision makers here are appointed and the reasons why.

The Basics – Guaranteeing Independence   

As usual when discussing election management in any country, the first place to start is the Constitution. Articles 114, 115 and 116 in Chapter Seven of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea clearly defines the NEC as independent organizations tasked with managing elections for public office. Within these Articles, the number, role, selection and expulsion process and some regulations regarding the commissioners are clearly set out. Let’s take a look at some of basic elements:

The NEC is therefore made up of nine commissioners, with three nominated from each branch of government. We will go through this selection process in a moment, but the important thing to take from this Article is the desire to balance the Commission to ensure its independence, with no one branch of government or party able to dominate the NEC. Furthermore:

These three Articles are in place to ensure the Commissioners are independent from any outside political influence. Commissioners may only be removed if they are impeached or imprisoned, and therefore cannot be removed from their position for purely political reasons by a single actor that is unhappy with their decisions. These simple yet fundamental Articles are the basis for creating an independent and politically neutral NEC.

Selection Process: The Thirds Principle

The selection process also helps to ensure the Commission itself is balanced. As we can see in Article 114, three members are appointed by the President, three members selected by the National Assembly, and three members are designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This system is designed specifically to prevent domination over the commission by either a branch of the government or a political party.

The Commission during its first meeting of 2017

The Commission is not selected all at once, but instead a commissioner is chosen when a seat becomes vacant due to either the expiration of a commissioner’s term, a resignation or if a commissioner is removed if they are impeached or imprisoned. This staggered selection process ensures there is never a period the commission cannot sit due to any delay in the nomination and confirmation procedure, since there will always be sitting commissioners who can hold a meeting and make a decision.

Once selected by either the President, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the National Assembly, the nominated candidate must attend a Special Committee Confirmation Hearing. This special committee does not have the authority to reject the candidate, but it submits a report to a plenary session of the National Assembly and, in the case the candidate is nominated by the President or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, it also submits the report to the nominating party. This report is simply a check to ensure the candidate is qualified for the position, and if it is deemed that the candidate does not have the required experience or qualifications, it is expected that their nomination is withdrawn.  

The Unwritten Conventions

There are also a few important conventions that are followed regarding the Commission that are not written into law. These conventions have been created by precedence and have been followed by the stakeholders involved with the Commission over the years the NEC has been an independent body.

The first of these is that one of the Commissioners chosen by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should be a Justice at the Supreme Court. This means the Commissioner always has one of the top judges in the country among its ranks, making the NEC more neutral and more effective in its decision making.

Current Chairperson Kim Yong-deok

In addition, the second of these conventions is that the Supreme Court Justice selected as Commissioner is always the Chairperson. According to law, the Chairperson should be elected by the Commissioners themselves from among the nine. However, since the NEC’s inception, the Commissioner who is also a Supreme Court Justice has been customarily elected as the Chairperson because they are seen as the most neutral member and the highest ranking judge present. 

It should also be noted that only one of the nine Commissioners actually holds a full-time role at the NEC. The Vice-Chairperson works at the NEC daily and supports the work of the Chairperson, but all other members continue in other positions and attend Commission meetings as required. Meetings are held once a month regularly, but additional meetings are held during election periods or if an important decision is required.

Fairness and Neutrality

So there we have it, the system used to select the Commissioners and the Chairperson here at the NEC is a carefully designed process that ensures we can manage elections in the way envisioned by the Constitution. Subtle but important measures remove political influence on the decision making of the Commissioners and makes sure that political neutrality, which is absolutely vital to fair election management, is upheld. This fairness filters down from the decision makers to the staff and the work done every day in our offices and is at the heart of making elections in Korea a success story.