9 of the Public Officials Election Act, due to their status as political party representatives and as active figures at the electoral campaign. The state institutions bear the obligation to maintain neutrality concerning elections, in order to provide a 'forum for free competition' where the political parties can compete fairly at the election. In such 'free competition among the political parties' guaranteed by the state's neutrality obligation, the members of the National Assembly play an active role at the electoral campaigns as the representatives of their respective political parties. That is, whereas the state institutions administrate the election and should not affect the election as the institutions that are mandated to guarantee a fair election, the political parties, on the other hand, are premised on the mission to affect the election. 3) Also, a systematic analysis of the meaning of 'public officials' in Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act in its interrelationship with other provisions of the Public Officials Election Act or with other statutes mandates an interpretation that the concept of 'public officials' in the Public Officials Election Act includes all public officials at political offices with the exception of the members of the National Assembly and of the local legislatures. For example, the Public Officials Election Act uses 'public officials' as a general term to include public officials at political offices in its Article 60(1)(ⅳ) that prohibits, in principle, the political campaign of public officials and also in Article 86(1) that prohibits the acts of public officials influencing the election. Furthermore, in such other statutes as the State Public Officials Act (in Article 2 and other provisions) and the Political Party Act (in Article 6 and other provisions), the term 'public official' is used inclusive of public officials at political offices. 4) Therefore, political neutrality concerning elections is a basic obligation of all public officials of the executive branch and the judiciary. Furthermore, since the President bears the obligation to oversee and manage a fair electoral process as the head of the executive branch, the President is, as a matter of course, a 'public official' within the meaning of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act. (B) The President as a 'constitutional institution of a political nature' and the 'obligation to maintain neutrality concerning elections' The fact that political nature' is from the question maintain political the President is a 'constitutional institution of a a distinct matter and should thus be distinguished of whether the President bears the 'obligation to neutrality concerning elections.' The President, in ordinary circumstances, is elected through the electoral campaign endorsed and supported by a political party, as a - 172 -