The National Election Commission conducted a survey on voters’ willingness to participate in the 19^th National Assembly elections to be held on April 11. The survey shows that 2 out of 3 voters (65.6%) are interested in the elections. According to the survey, 56.9% of the total survey population says that they will definitely vote.

The survey also shows the following:

When asked about their willingness to participate, 56.9% of the voters surveyed said they would surely vote.

By age groups, 36.1% of the twenties and under, 47.1% of the thirties, 56.3% of the forties and 72.1% of the fifties and over

Compared to the survey conducted during the same period of the 18^th National Assembly elections, this survey shows that willing voters have increased by 5%p.

Increases of 10%p and 12.7%p respectively in the number of the twenties and under and the thirties

Voters’ interests in the coming elections, compared to those in the 18^th National Assembly elections, have increased by nearly 5%p to the figure of 65.6%.

According to the survey, “policies/pledges (34.0%)” are considered most important by voters when voting, followed by “personal character/capability (30.8%). Among other considerations are “political parties (13.8%)”, “other peoples’ opinions (7.6%)”, “political careers (4.4%)”, “personal connections (1.2%)” and “hometowns (0.8%)”.

Comparing this with the surveys conducted for previous National Assembly elections, less voters consider “personal character/capability” when voting (the 17^th elections: 41.7%, the 18^th: 34.2% and the 19^th: 30.8%) while more voters consider “policies/pledges (the 17^th elections: 15.2%, the 18^th: 30.8% and the 19^th: 34.0%). This indicates that voters are getting more interested in a policy-oriented election.

The NEC has released the 10 fundamental policies of each party and their stances towards major pending issues as well as candidates’ core pledges through its website http://party.nec.go.kr. This is to help voters to wisely select candidates. Especially, the NEC is scheduled to conduct a campaign through which national participation in a policy-oriented election can be achieved. Designating April 4 to 10 as a “Week for Learning about Policies and Pledges” is part of the campaign.

According to the survey, voters gain information necessary for selecting candidates through the following channels:

Broadcast media including TV/radio 42.0%, followed by the Internet 23.3%, print media including papers/magazines 20.2% and from other people 11.23%

The survey is done by the Korea Research Center on request of the NEC. It has been targeted at 1,500 voters who are 19 and over nationwide and conducted for two days from March 19 to 20 via phone. The response rate is 14.6% and the sampling error is plus or minus 2.5% points with a 95% confidence interval.