Next Indian Elections

2024총선: 재외 유권자 등록 2월 10일까지 마쳐야

There's little over 60 days to go, until the 2024 General Election.
And this week, is the last chance for the some 2-million Koreans living overseas who're eligible to vote, to register, so they can cast their ballots.
Our National Assembly correspondent Lee Shi-hoo explains its process and the significance.

Overseas Koreans earned the right to vote in 2012, after filing a petition to the constitutional court.
Now, Korean citizens without a permanent address in Korea can vote for proportional representatives in the Assembly.
Those with a permanent address may vote for both proportional and regional lawmakers.
They can cast their vote at selected diplomatic offices or alternative locations.
Voters must register no later than 60 days before the actual voting day here in South Korea.
Then voting will open for six days, any time between 14 to nine days before the election day.
But in the general and presidential elections since 2012, only about ten percent of the total eligible overseas voters registered to vote.
Of those, only 28 percent showed up to vote in past general elections.

"There are practical constraints in overseas voting. Mail-in voting is not available, and polling stations are far away from where people live. There are also inconveniences in the voting process due to limited space, and also during voter registration. ."

But the National Election Commission is doing a lot to support its voters.
It's installed an overseas election commission in diplomatic offices and dispatched attaches to help the voting process.

" We are actively promoting overseas voting through local Korean media and Korean communities. The U.S. Embassy in Washington, where I am, is accepting many registrations until the last minute. Registering online is the most convenient method, so we ask those overseas who haven't registered to vote to do so on the NEC website or by other methods by February 10th."

Meanwhile, rival lawmakers are strongly encouraging overseas Koreans to go out and cast their votes.

Lawmaker Kim Seok-ki of the ruling People Power Party who also heads the party's committee for overseas Koreans says that every vote matters and that the PPP will continue to "lead the improvement of the overseas election system."

The main opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-sun, who leads the Democratic Congress of Global Koreans, says that it's the Assembly's responsibility to provide the right assistance for voters.

"In the upcoming important election that'll determine the direction of the state, they have much interest in exercising their right to participate. I think as an advanced country, it is our role to make sure they can participate in the upcoming general election."

Both the lawmakers spoke of other methods such as mail-in ballots, but did say that careful review and discussions are needed before they can be employed.

Lee Shi-hoo, Arirang News.

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2024-02-07, 21:00 (KST)