People wave flags at a rally calling for an election rerun at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Wednesday. (Yoon Chang-bin/The Korea Herald) A special parliamentary probe into the National Election Commission and its regional branches has begun, with the rival parties having agreed to pass a proposal to execute a 45-day investigation on Thursday.The motion to launch the probe won 250-1 votes in the plenary session Thursday.The probe is expected to last until Aug. 1, but the investigation can be extended if the Assembly grants approval at a future plenary session.This follows a special committee meeting Thursday morning that greenlit a motion for the parliamentary probe.The probe will look into the lack of ballot papers, the cause of problems in distributing ballots, and the implications such issues had on people's voting rights. It will also touch on structural issues in the NEC in terms of budget expenditures."The exercise of the people's sovereignty has been obstructed due to a shortage of ballot papers at numerous polling stations nationwide, as some voters suffered prolonged delays or temporary suspensions, while others ended up turning away from the stations," the motion for the parliamentary probe said."The NEC's complacency and the critical failure in election management, namely the failure to properly manage ballot papers, clearly revealed the utter incompetence of election administration. This has caused immense social costs and conflict, and consequently resulted in a serious breach of the people's right to vote guaranteed by the Constitution."On Wednesday, the rival parties agreed to form an 18-member special committee dedicated to the parliamentary probe.Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, five-term lawmaker of the People Power Party, will chair the special committee.The committee will consist of nine Democratic Party lawmakers led by Rep. Youn Kun-young, seven People Power Party lawmakers including Rep. Suh Bum-soo, as well as two minor party lawmakers, namely Rebuilding Korea Party's Rep. Chung Choon-saeng and Reform Party's Rep. Lee Jun-seok. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun attends a special parliamentary committee meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) As the NEC's internal probe is set to wrap up Friday, the ball will now be in the National Assembly's court.The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which won 12 of 16 posts in key municipalities in the local election, said no irregularities in the ballot shortage incidents would be tolerated.Rep. Han Byung-do, the ruling party floor leader, said at a party meeting on Thursday that the party will do its utmost to uncover the cause of the ballot shortages and who must be held accountable. He added the ballot shortage fiasco "is never an issue that (those responsible) can slip away from," and that the NEC is subject to the kinds of reforms that require "a profound change like the reconstruction of a building."Bolstered by the launch of the National Assembly probe, the main opposition People Power Party upped their pressure on its liberal rival.Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, chair of the People Power Party, said on his Facebook page on Thursday that the ruling party, which holds a majority of parliamentary seats, must cooperate to launch a special counsel investigation into the NEC.Jang, who has consistently called for an election rerun over the ballot debacle, said at the party meeting Thursday that the launch of a special counsel recommended by his party would quash public distrust toward the election authorities' management, claiming that an ongoing probe into the NEC cannot be trusted based on suspicions that a high-ranking NEC official has close ties to President Lee Jae Myung.Meanwhile, Wednesday was the deadline for petitions to be filed to challenge the election outcome. Conservative parties such as the People Power Party and the Reform Party filed petitions in multiple election jurisdictions in which they believed their candidates were affected.If the authorities discover that irregularities were found in the election process within 60 days after the petitions were filed, the case will go to court to determine whether the election should be rerun.