Police said Thursday they had begun raiding about 10 offices of civic groups in relation to suspected violations while campaigning against candidates for the April 13 general election.

The National Election Commission has filed a report with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against the “2016 general election citizens’ network” made up of progressive activists including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

The NEC accused the network of holding a de facto rally under the guise of a press conference the day before the election day, and accused them of conducting illegitimate public polls without making due reports to the required watchdog. The NEC said such actions were in violation of the Public Official Election Act.

The watchdog also took issue with the group using an amplifier system on the street and setting up a banner with names of certain candidates written on them, as well as attaching a self-made “anti-campaign registration” in front of their offices.

Performing an anti-campaign against a candidate in the form of expressing an individual’s opinion or civic groups releasing names of subjected candidates is legal. But distributing anti-campaign leaflets offline and holding public rallies against candidates are both banned.

The police’ White Collar Crime Investigation Police Unit said they will search and seize computer hard disks, documents and other materials, and question relevant officials in their investigation.

The 2016 network had selected the top 10 worst candidates running in the parliamentary election for the 20th National Assembly and conducted anti-campaigns against them. The move was also criticized by some for lacking in objectivity as it mainly included candidates of the ruling Saenuri Party.

The PSPD said the NEC’s claims are an arbitrary interpretation of their activities and vowed to fight the charges.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)