= Decided to strictly deal with any distortion or manipulation of election surveys ahead of the 7th nationwide simultaneous local elections =

The National Election Survey Deliberation Commission (NESDC, Chairperson Kim Young-won) held the 7th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections Meeting of National and Si/Do Survey Deliberation Commission Chairpersons on February 23 where they decided to strictly deal with any distortion or manipulation of election surveys. 

The meeting, which was held about 100 days ahead of the 7th nationwide simultaneous local elections, was attended by the chairpersons of the NESDC and the 17 Si/Do survey deliberation commissions.

At the meeting, the NESDC decided to take measures to prevent violations and enforce election surveys during the 7th nationwide simultaneous local elections, decided to take strict measures against any distortion or manipulation of election surveys. 

In particular, in recent years candidates and the local press conspired to distort and manipulate the survey results and to publish or report them or use a sampling method that is not representative to conduct surveys in an unfair way. Also, the NESDC called election survey deliberation organizations to concentrate their expertise on enforcing fairness in election surveys.

In addition, the NESDC decided to actively provide guidance and information in advance to ensure political parties, candidates, and polling organizations will not unwittingly violate relevant regulations such as the election survey standards because of a lack of knowledge of those regulations. 

The NESDC plans to strengthen the monitoring of election surveys using methods introduced for these local elections including a polling organization registration system, a mobile phone virtual code system and system to inform political parties and candidates to prevent them from publishing or reporting the results of certain surveys and utilizing polling experts such as social survey analysts. 

In addition, at the meeting the NESDC discussed issues such as the problem of setting specific standards for an excessive sample of election surveys, the problem of the publication or reporting of opinion polls with an extremely low or high response rate, and measures to prevent the publication of election surveys conducted by a third party on behalf of a candidate. The NESDC will continue to fulfill its responsibilities, including the role of ensuring objectivity and reliability of election polls.