Election sets new standards

The 18th presidential election introduced some new provisions to expand people’s political rights and ensure greater fairness.

The overseas ballot was introduced, enabling more people to vote, including sailors on ships that were permitted to establish polling stations.

The first overseas votes in the presidential poll took place between Dec. 5 and 10 in 110 countries. According to the National Election Commission (NEC), some 220,000 Koreans abroad registered as overseas voters and the final turnout reached 71.2 percent.

The overseas vote was initially introduced for the first time in the nation’s history during the April 11 National Assembly elections, but turnout then was just 45.7 percent.

The sharp increase reflected the high interest of voters in the neck and neck race between Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party and Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party (DUP).

Absentee ballots for fishermen and people serving in the navy were also provided for the first time too, with a remarkable 93.8 percent final turnout. According to the election watchdog, 6,617 of an eligible 7,057 voters cast their ballots at polling stations on ships for three days from Dec. 11. The votes were cast by transmitting information from ship to shore.

Also, polling hours for absentee voting within the nation was extended by four hours. It was initially from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. but was changed to starting at 6.00 a.m. Turnout for this marked 92.3 percent, up from 90.1 percent in the 19th general election.

Even if registered absentee voters couldn’t cast their ballots within the allocated hours, they were allowed to vote on Wednesday if they visited their constituency and handed in an absentee ballot and a return envelope.

Meanwhile, security systems to ensure fairness were further strengthened.

The NEC changed existing ballot boxes made of paper to reinforced plastic. In order to prevent switching boxes, the election watchdog attached electronic chips to each box proving their authenticity.

Also, when the NEC created a cryptographic system to be used to recognize and sort ballots, members from the Saenuri Party and the DUP worked together with the NEC officials.

“As members from two leading parties and the NEC worked together on the security systems, the approach of other people was strictly restricted and there was no possibility of manipulating programs,” NEC official Min Jung-yeol said to reporters. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>