Publication of opinion polls to be banned from Thursday through Election Day

The publication of opinion polls will be banned for a week in the run-up to next week's parliamentary elections, the state election watchdog said Wednesday. The ban will go into effect Thursday and run through the end of voting on April 10 because poll results could influence the elections and inaccurate or unfair surveys could undermine the fairness of the elections, the National Election Commission (NEC) said. It is still possible to publish surveys conducted before the six-day window, but publishers are required to specify when they were carried out. Quoting surveys released before the prohibition period is also allowed, the NEC said. Meanwhile, the commission said it found 105 cases involving violations of election surveys. Of them, the agency filed complaints against the violators in 25 cases, imposed fines totaling 40 million won (US$29,664) in four cases and issued warnings to the violators in the remaining 76 cases. Source: Yonhap News Agency