Reimbursement of 91.9B won for election expenses of the 18th Presidential Election

= Cut 2.8B won out of the total claimed amount, paid 45.3B won for Saenuri Party and 46.6B won for Democratic United Party =

The National Election Commission (NEC) compensated 91.9B won on February 26 for the cost that the parties spent for the 18th Presidential Election.

In line with the principle of Public Funding System and Public Official Election Act under the Constitution, if a candidate wins the race or the number of votes is more 15% out of the total valid votes, the nation will reimburse the whole cost of the election; this time, Saenuri Party and Democratic United Party will get the whole election expenses.

The NEC said that it has conducted a documentary investigation and a field investigation on the claims regarding the reimbursement for election expenses submitted by Saenuri Party and Democratic United Party for 50 days to confirm the legitimacy of them.

As a result, the NEC cut 2.8B won for the cost exceeding the normal trading price, spent by the preliminary candidates and not being used for the election campaign out of the total claimed amount of 94.7B won (Saenuri Party 46.8B won, Democratic United Party 47.9B won). And 45.3B won was reimbursed for Saenuri Party as well as 46.6B won for Democratic United Party, total 91.9B won. This is 82.1% of 55.977B won which is the election expense limit.

≪ Status of reimbursement for the election expense of the 18th Presidential Election ≫

(Unit : Won)

The cost for reimbursement of election expenses of the 17th Presidential Election in 2007 was 86B won; 34.8B won for Grand National Party, 38.2B won for United New Democratic Party and 13B won for the candidate Lee Hoe Chang.

In addition, apart from the compensation of election expenses, the NEC paid 760M won to relevant parties and candidates for the cost of braille-type election campaign booklets that should be covered by the nation regardless of the number of votes in accordance with Public Official Election Act, Article 122.2 Clause 3.

≪ Status of expenses covered by the Nation ≫

(Unit : Won)

Meanwhile, the NEC discloses the accounting reports on revenue and expenditure for the political fund and the attachments submitted by the parties and candidates, which participated in the 18th Presidential Election to the public by displaying them in each election commission till May 6. The public can also get the information about the cash flow of election expenses from the NEC Homepage (http://www.nec.go.kr).

The NEC asked many interests for the public saying that a person who has an objection on the accounting report and the attachments submitted by the parties and candidates can raise an objection to the relevant Election Commission during the disclosing period.