such as the President fall within the definition of a 'public official or anyone obligated to maintain political neutrality' of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act. 1) Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act is a statutory provision that specifies and realizes the constitutionally requested 'obligation of public officials to maintain neutrality concerning elections,' derived from Article 7(1) (status of a public official as a servant for the public as a whole), Article 41, Article 67 (principle of free election) and Article 116 (principle of equal opportunity among the political parties) of the Constitution. Therefore, the 'public official' within the meaning of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act means any and all public officials who should be obligated to maintain neutrality concerning elections, that is, more particularly, any or all public officials who are in a position to threaten the 'principle of free election' and 'equal opportunity among the political parties at the election.' Considering that practically all public officials are in a position to exercise undue influence upon the election in the course of exercising through exercise of their official duties, public officials here include, in principle, all public officials of the national and local governments, that is, all career public officials as narrowly defined, and, further include public officials at offices of political nature who serve the state through active political activities (for example, the President, the Prime Minister, the ministers of the administration, and the chief executive officer at various levels of local government such as the governor, the mayor, and the county magistrate). The possibility of affecting the public's open opinion formulation process and distorting the political parties' competitive relationship through the function and influence of the official duties is particularly greater for the executive institutions at the national or local governments. Therefore, political neutrality concerning elections is even more greatly requested than other public officials for the President and the chief executive officers at the local governments. 2) Obligating public officials to maintain neutrality concerning elections in Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act is a mere specification of the constitutional request of the principle of free election, the principle of equal opportunity among the political parties, and the 'obligation of public officials to maintain neutrality concerning elections' derived from Article 7(1) of the Constitution, made applicable to public officials in the area of election law. Thus, such provision is constitutional as long as it is interpreted to exclude the members of the National Assembly and the members of the local legislatures from whom political neutrality concerning elections cannot be requested. The members of the National Assembly and the members of the local legislatures are not 'public officials' within the meaning of Article - 171 -