Central Election Commission Conducts Overseas Embassy Vote Counting at 18 Missions... First Since System Introduction

Park Young-soo, Secretary General of the Central Election Commission, popera singer Lim Hyung-joo, and actor couple Choi Bul-am and Kim Min-ja are taking a commemorative photo at the Namyeong-dong early voting station set up in the waiting room of Seoul Station on the morning of the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 10th, the Central Election Commission decided to conduct ballot counting at 18 overseas diplomatic missions, including the Papua New Guinea Embassy.

This decision was made because the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has led to a complete suspension of flights in the respective countries, making it impossible to transport overseas votes back to Korea. This is the first time since the overseas election system was introduced and implemented in 2012 that ballot counting is conducted at diplomatic missions.

The Central Election Commission, in close consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, overseas diplomatic missions, and transportation companies regarding the safe transport of overseas votes amid flight suspensions or reductions due to COVID-19, judged that ballot counting at 18 overseas diplomatic missions was unavoidable. They prepared and delivered guidelines and manuals for ballot counting at diplomatic missions.

Additionally, to ensure a prompt response to the ballot counting tasks, the overseas election situation room, which operates 24 hours a day, will be converted into a diplomatic mission ballot counting situation room until the completion of ballot counting. The ballot counting situation room is organized into four teams with 23 members to actively support the overseas diplomatic missions conducting the counting.

Chairman Kwon Soon-il of the Central Election Commission stated, "The decision to suspend overseas election affairs at 91 overseas diplomatic missions in 55 countries is an inevitable decision to fulfill the state's responsibility to protect overseas nationals amid the global disaster of COVID-19," adding, "We regret that the voting rights of some overseas nationals were restricted, and we will actively pursue effective institutional improvements to ensure that overseas nationals can exercise their voting rights without inconvenience even in unavoidable circumstances."