The NEC delivered a political fund of 8.546 billion KRW, which citizens had contributed to election commissions from October to December 2011, to political parties on January 12 at the National Assembly.

The Secretary-General (Lee, Jong-Woo) of the NEC asked political parties to make utmost efforts for fair and transparent elections this year, saying citizens made contributions despite difficult economic circumstances last year.

The contributions of last year was the highest record (8.657 billion KRW) since 1997 when the designated contribution system was abolished and 97,321 people made an average contribution of 89,000 KRW per person, about 24.4% increase compared to that of 2010 (6.959 billion KRW). This can be seen as an increased interests and expectation on the major elections (the National Assembly elections and Presidential election) and development of the political culture.

This contribution to election commissions is a political fund raised from individuals including public officials unlike other donations to political fundraising associations (PFA) for specific politicians.

If individuals want to make contributions, they can visit the website of the political contribution centre (www.give.go.kr); visit election commissions in person; or reward points of credit cards are also available to donate.

The NEC asked people to participate and have a keen interest in building sound political fundraising climate, as it said it is working hard to improve systems for encouraging more people to participate with small amount of money and diversifying the methods to raise funds without tarnishing transparency of political funds.