Elections Expand Voting Rights for Foreigners, Younger Citizens

The upcoming local elections are being seen as a test for the nation's maturing democracy with expanded voting rights for foreigners and younger citizens.

Under the election law revised last year, permanent foreign residents living here for three or more years now have the right to vote in local elections for the first time in the nation's history. Foreigners will not be allowed to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.

This is also the first nationwide election in which 19-year-old citizens to be eligible to vote. They were first granted the right last October during by-elections to fill four vacant seats in the National Assembly. Previously, only those 20 years or older were allowed to vote.

"Changes in the electoral system and expansion of the franchise is evidence of how the nation is moving forward to develop a fairer and more balanced democracy," said Lee Nam-young, political science professor at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul. The election authorities estimate the number of eligible foreign voters at about 6,580, mostly Chinese residents. Also more than half a million Koreans born before June 1, 1987 are now allowed to vote among the 37.07 million eligible voters across the country.

"Korea is now the first nation in Asia to grant voting rights to foreign residents. We hope this would accelerate a move to integrate foreign communities into the homogenous society," said Kim Cheol, deputy director of public relations at the Nation Election Commission.

Entitling foreign residents to cast votes in central elections such as presidential and parliamentary contests in the future would help fast-forward the integration process, the official added.

Election experts say that granting voting rights to foreigners could be a catalyst for strengthening diplomatic ties with concerned countries, especially with Japan.

"(I expect to see) Koreans residing abroad, for instance in Japan, have voting powers granted in the future. Foreign residents living in different places around the world would no longer be politically disenfranchised as the world is becoming more and more integrated. This is the principle that other countries are trying to adopt in the process of globalization," said professor Lee.

The amended election law also eases regulations regarding absentee voting to allow more citizens to take part in the May 31 elections.

Previously, absentee voting has been allowed only to those serving in the military and a limited number of public posts. All voters can now apply for an absentee ballot if they expect to be away from their official place of residence on election day.

The number of applicants for absentee ballots reached 890,702, or 2.4 percent of the entire electorate, according to the NEC.

Absentee voting will be held today and tomorrow in 506 special polling stations across the country.

The May 31 elections are expected to reflect the party preferences of voters more accurately through the introduction of a proportional representation voting system for the election of local council members at lower levels.

Changes in number of ballots each voter will cast reflect the changes in the nation's electoral system.

Each voter will cast six ballots for candidates running in different categories: administrative posts and local council membership, both divided into higher and lower level units.

A resident of Gangnam-gu (ward) in Seoul, for example, will cast a vote for his or her choice for mayor, the head of Gangnam ward and two council members in the upper and lower level.

But in choosing council members for both the city and the ward, the voter will cast ballots in two different sections.

One is for candidates, and the other for a political party. This means the Seoul resident has to cast four ballots to determine local council seats.

Their choice of a party will determine the proportional allocation of local council seats among parties that win more than 5 percent of the total votes cast in each district.

The proportional system was introduced in 2001 when the Constitutional Court ruled the electoral system unconstitutional because voters might not necessarily support the political party that has fielded their favorite candidate.

The proportional system prevents any political party from occupying more than two-thirds of the proportionally representative seats, in order to help minor parties make their way into local councils.

Election management officials are concerned that voters may be confused by the complicated procedure that requires them to mark their choices on six ballot sheets.

But the election authority said that the voting process is not as complicated as it looks.

"(The NEC) has simplified the process by dividing six ballots into two packages. Voters are given the first three ballots for selecting administrators and assemblymen at lower units and then given another three to vote. This is much easier than the previous local election where voters had to cast their votes into five different ballot boxes," said an official at the NEC.

The election official said the commission has been promoting public understanding of the voting process through TV commercials and newspaper advertisements.

Leaflets explaining the process will be mailed to citizens as well as to foreign residents, both in Chinese and English, added the official.

Civic groups, however, have complained that the NEC has not done enough to educate the public, raising concerns about possible confusion at polling stations. But the election watchdog said it is preparing to minimize the possibility of confusion at polling stations by placing just two color-coded ballot boxes at polling stations. Voters are to cast three ballots in each box categorized by colors.

A total of 12,194 candidates registered with the election commission to run in the elections, translating to an average of 3.15 candidates for each seat up for grabs.

Voters will pick all seven main city mayors, nine provincial governors, 230 heads of local autonomous administrative bodies and 3,621 members of local councils.

The seats for local assemblymen have been mostly dominated by influential people in the region since only minimum wages are paid for the job. But public service is now becoming one of the highest-paid jobs due to the dramatic increase in salary. Local governments are to pay local assemblymen, if elected, about 50 million to 80 million won per year.

The local elections have been held every four years since 1995.