158,000 Voters Register for Overseas Voting for the 20th National Assembly Elections

A Rise of 27.1% Compared to the 19th National Assembly Elections

The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea has announced that 158,135 voters reported as overseas absentees or registered as overseas voters for the 20th National Assembly elections.

According to the report made at 1pm, February 14 Korean time, the number of registered overseas voters increased by 27.1% from 19th National Assembly elections (124,424 voters) and represented 8% of the overall estimated population of 1,980,000 Koreans living overseas.

Overseas registration and applications were taken for 91 days from November 15 to February 13 at 169 overseas missions and 252 Gu/Si/Gun local government offices. 

109,281 voters reported as overseas absentees, making up 69.1% of the total of oversees voter registrations, with the 48,854 applying as overseas voters making up the remaining 30.9%. 

By diplomatic mission, 9,884 voters applied to the Korean embassy in Japan, which was the highest number, and 7,604 and 7,349 voters applied to the Korean consulates in Shanghai and LA respectively. By country, 37,691 voters applied from the USA, 29,376 applied from Japan and 21,637 applied from China. 

Overseas voting was held for the first time during the 19th National Assembly elections in 2012 after the Constitutional Court ruled that it is not in sync with the constitution to restrict suffrage for overseas voters.

During the 19th National Assembly overseas elections there were difficulties in registering, such as the complicated registration and reporting system and the issue that voters had to visit polling stations that could be far from their homes. However, in this election, new systems were introduced to increase the participation of overseas voters such as internet registration, a permanent overseas voters list and the addition of new polling facilities in diplomatic missions and dispatched military bases.

52,740 voters registered online, which accounted for 43.7% of the total number of registrations, and 37,480 voters were already registered through the permanent overseas voters list. This was a major factor in the 33,711 voter increase in the number of registrations compared to the last National Assembly elections. 

However, the NEC announced that, despite the introduction of the new systems, there was not a dramatic increase in the number of overseas voter registrations. Because of the issues such as a reduction in the number of overseas election officials (55 staff down to 20), there was a lack of PR and despite the introduction of additional polling stations, some polling stations were still too far for some voters and made participation difficult. 

The overseas voters will now be completed between February 24 and March 4, and voting will take place from March 30 to April 4 at all of the 169 missions around the world and at 29 additional overseas polling stations. 

The NEC urges overseas citizens to participate in voting in order to be engaged in the politics of the Republic of Korea. 

Overseas Voter Registration Summary (Provisional)

1. Total number of registrations: 158,135 (7.99% of the overseas Korean population. 158,099 made from outside Korea, 36 made domestically) 

2. Registrations by continent: 

• Compared to the 19th National Assembly Elections (124,424 registered voters, 123,418 made from outside Korea, 1,006 made domestically), there was an increase of 33,711 registered voters (27.09%)

• Composition of registered voters: Overseas voters 30.9%, Overseas absentees 69.1%

• Internet Registration: 52,750 voters (43.72% of the total registrations)

3. Registrations by the Largest Three Countries: