Online Voting System Used for the First Time in Political Party Primary Elections

Overseas voters were able to participate in primary elections from countries such as USA, Germany, Australia and Singapore

The National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea (NEC) is supported the Justice Party’s primary elections to select candidates for the 20th National Assembly using an online voting system, also known as K-voting system.

The Justice Party undertook primary elections utilizing the online voting system from March 6 to March 9, selecting 14 candidates to run in proportional representation elections and 59 candidates to run in district member elections for the National Assembly. 

These primary elections are the first time that the online voting system is used in party primary elections and not just private elections. 22,000 overseas voters from countries such as the USA, Germany, Australia and Singapore have been able to participate in voting via smartphone or PC. 

In order to participate in voting, voters had to pass through procedures to verify their identity such as accessing a unique URL given to each voter, using a digital certificate on the voter’s mobile phone and entering identification information set out by the party. These are done in order to prevent irregularities such as double voting and proxy voting. 

Since the launch of the NEC’s online voting system in November 2013 until the end of February this year, it has been used by 680,000 voters in 723 elections, averaging 59.7% voter turnout in those elections. 

Due to the system’s strengths such as the convenience of participating in voting, reduction in election management costs and the enhanced trust in election results, it is being actively used in private elections such as representatives for apartment residents, and various associations and organizations. In addition, recently the use of the system has been expanded to the field of policy-making and opinion polls to resolve conflict.

The NEC strives to take root of the fair election culture by expanding the use of the online voting system to elections conducted in private organizations.