NEC Pushes Ahead with Marking Public Official Election Days and Voter’s Day on Calendars

= Requesting cooperation from public institutions, financial institutions, religious organizations, corporations and mobile phone companies among others = 

The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea announced that, in order to spread awareness that public official election days are also statutory holidays and to raise the people’s sense of sovereignty, it will encourage groups such as public institutions, financial institutions, religious organizations and corporations to mark public official election days and other election-related days on calendars and planners they produce to inform voters and ensure their suffrage. 

Despite the fact that on September 6, 2006, the Regulations on Official Public Holidays was amended so that elections for public officials due to expiration of term of office are designated as statutory holidays, and on January 1 2012 Voter’s Day was set as a anniversary to celebrate according to the amended Public Official Election Act, still there were not many calendars that marked election day for the 20th National Assembly and Voter’s Day. 

Due to this, the NEC has requested public institutions, financial institutions, religious organizations, corporations, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the Korean Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and 3,000 printing companies nationwide that are part of the Print work Cooperation so that next year the 19th Presidential Election day on December 20th and Voter’s Day on May 10th can be marked on materials such as calendars.

In addition, it was also announced that calendar applications built in on mobile phones manufactured by Samsung, LG and other mobile phone manufacturers will reflect public official election days. At the request of the NEC, major national portal sites such as Naver, Daum and Zum will change public official election days to statutory holidays, and planner manufacturers Yangjisa Inc. and Franklin Planner Korea Inc. plan to mark the 19th Presidential election day as a statutory holiday.

Also, financial institutes such as Nonghyup, Shinhan and Woori Banks, multinational corporations such as Doosan, Lotte, Aekyung, Kolon, Hanhwa, LG and SK as well as religious organizations will reflect public official election days and other election-related days on their calendars from next year.

The NEC requested that other institutions and organizations mark public official election days and Voter’s Day on their calendars and other materials to ensure that more voters increase their sense of sovereignty and can participate in elections.