Registration rate remains below 6%; NEC, parties pledge to take measures by year-end


Controversy is growing over the nation’s first ever round of overseas voting as less than 6 percent of overseas Koreans have registered to vote in the upcoming April general elections.

Among the 2.23 million eligible voters, 124,350, or 5.57 percent, registered from November until the deadline on Saturday, according to the National Election Commission Sunday.

Of them, 104,314 maintained their residence registration in Korea and the remaining 20,036 had their permanent residence in their current country.

The registered voters can cast their ballot from March 28 to April 2 in 158 overseas diplomatic offices.

The Constitutional Court ruled in 2007 that the public election law should provide overseas nationals with means to exercise their political voting rights.

The revised bill took effect in 2009 and is to be applied to the April parliamentary elections, making Korea the 118th country and the last OECD member to implement overseas voting.

Some observers, however, charged that the current measures are not sufficient.

“The new system has not been efficiently promoted in overseas Korea communities,” said Bae Hee-cheol, head of the World Korea Voters Coalition.

“Also, the registration process requires considerable time and money, which led to a low participation rate.”

The overseas residents generally have little interest in local politics, especially in non-presidential races, and are not willing to go to much trouble to vote, he added.

“Overseas voting has been an issue but we mostly find it difficult to go through the registration stages,” said Choi Min-young, a Korean student who holds permanent residence in Texas.

Others claimed that the system may turn out to be a waste of money, as some 30 billion won ($26.8 million) has been allocated for its implementation.

The election watchdog rejected the pessimistic analyses.

“Considering the given circumstances, the turnout is not so low and is not subject to simple comparison with the domestic figures,” said an official with the NEC.

“We should note the fact that over 100,000 people stepped out and registered themselves for the general elections, without even knowing the candidates yet.”

The budget, too, has always been taken into account, officials said.

“The constitution requires the government and its affiliated organizations to come up with measures to enable all nationals to practice their voting rights,” said Jeong Hoon-gyo, director general of the NEC’s overseas election department.

“The overseas voting system is thus not an option but a legal necessity, which may not be aborted for cost factors.”

The panel nevertheless pledged to simplify the processes and to try boost the voter turnout in future elections.

“Based on this first practice, improvements will be made ahead of the December presidential election,” said the official.

Parties also resolved to encourage the participation of overseas voters.

“Over 84 percent of the registered overseas voters were temporary absentees, who did not have to visit diplomatic offices for the registration,” said Chung Kwang-il, secretary-general of the main opposition Democratic United Party’s overseas residents’ office.

It is therefore unreasonable to accuse the current system of discouraging eligible voters from participating, he said.

“It is now the party’s goal to urge the registered voters to actually cast their ballot,” Chung said.

The left-wing party is currently examining a series of campaigns to encourage overseas voters to take an interest in the elections, such as special bills to support overseas Korean schools, he said.

The ruling Saenuri Party also announced its plans to increase voter participation.

“We will seek methods to allow permanent overseas resident to register themselves via mail, without the trouble of visiting the diplomatic offices,” said Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, the party’s spokesperson Monday.

Also, the voters for the April race may be exempted from further registration for the December race, he added.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)