On January 31, the National Election Commission urged the National Assembly to make a swift amendment, as it expressed its deep concern that the amendment of the Public Official Act is getting late due to political interest of political parties.

The NEC expressed its concern that belated amendment could affect the election management and cause confusion of prospective candidates and voters, as the starting day of candidate registration for the National Assembly elections is just 50 days away.  

The NEC worried that the belated amendment could give voters a hard time making a right decision and create various problems regarding re-registration of prospective candidates and handling of election expenses that have been spent, as the official election process has already begun: the election expense limit of each constituency has been announced; and about 1,600 preliminary candidates have been registered and conducting election campaigns.

In particular, this is the first time to hold overseas voting and the overseas absentees list should be prepared by February 11, so constituencies must be confirmed as soon as possible.

In addition, according to the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Clause 93(1) as limitedly unconstitutional on December 29, 2011, the NEC set operating guidelines for the election campaign on the Internet that shall always allow election campaigns. However, other related regulations have still remained so that it could lead to a big confusion of the people.

The NEC strongly urged the National Assembly to amend the law, as it stressed out that a bad practice of belated amendment due to political interest of political parties should be addressed in order for the election to serve its purpose.

The NEC said that the Public Official Election Act should be amended by February 9 at the latest, because it takes at least more than 10 days until the amended law is proclaimed.

The NEC will send an official letter to the speaker of the National Assembly to urge the swift amendment.