Overseas voting for the May 9 presidential election got underway with polling stations in New Zealand opening Tuesday.

The six-day voting is scheduled to take place in a total of 204 diplomatic offices and military bases in 116 countries from Tuesday to Sunday, according to the National Election Commission.

The polling booths in New Zealand, where 3,500 Koreans registered to vote, are located at the Korean Embassy in Wellington and at the consulate in Auckland. The Auckland site opened at 8 a.m. (local time) and a local media outlet reported that around 30 voters were waiting in line then.

A record number of 294,633 overseas Korean nationals signed up to cast their ballots this year, a 31.8 percent jump from the previous 2012 presidential election.

Many overseas voters are posting photos of themselves at polling places on social media. Several Instagram users uploaded photos of a voting stamp printed on their hands, accompanied by messages encouraging others to vote.

“I woke up at 5 a.m. to come to Taipei to vote. This is the first time South Korea installed a polling booth in Taiwan -- I’m really excited!” said South Korean Instagram user jomiryo35.

Taiwan was excluded from overseas voting in the 2012 presidential election, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ office in Taipei was not recognized as an official diplomatic mission. Several experts said that this was due to its geopolitical dispute with China, which the South Korean economy heavily relies on.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs vowed to enhance the security of polling sites by requesting cooperation from respective countries due to the recent increase in global terrorism.

The ballots will be transported back to South Korea by air after the end of the overseas voting period. Fifty-six countries plan to deliver the ballots by a direct flight route, while 98 countries will use the hub-and-spoke system.

Overseas voting is slated to wrap up in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 1.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)