2017 Public Official Election Act Amendment
Encouragement and Appeals for Voting via Text Messages and SNS Allowed on Election Day
[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Daehyun and Gong Byungseon] "Please cast a courageous vote. This is Candidate A."
On the morning of the 9th, when the main voting for the 20th presidential election was underway, a citizen who had just finished voting received a phone call. It was a 'voting encouragement' call recorded with the voice of Candidate A, who is running for president.
Article 59 of the current Public Official Election Act stipulates that "election campaigning can only be conducted from the start of the election period until the day before the election day." The official campaign period for this presidential election, which began on the 15th of last month, ended at midnight on the 8th, the day before the election.
On the main voting day, presidential candidates can only make phone calls to "encourage voting," and campaigning asking for votes for themselves is not allowed. However, as in the case of Candidate A, mentioning a specific candidate's identity and urging people to participate in voting is pointed out as being practically close to soliciting support.
Random election promotion and opinion poll calls or texts have been repeated every election and have long been controversial. Since the calls come from unknown numbers, citizens who answer the phone inadvertently have no choice but to listen to the 10-second recorded voice of each presidential candidate defenselessly.
In particular, Candidate A actively used random calls in this presidential election. On the 7th, Candidate A even said on SNS, "If you have received more than three calls, I will invite you to the Blue House."
As this situation repeats, citizens are expressing discomfort. Candidate A's calls have already been made to emergency rooms requiring urgent attention, causing controversy. Mr. Kim, a man in his 30s who works, said, "Once or twice, I can take it lightly, but if calls keep coming until the election day, I think it becomes a disturbance," adding, "I think a national-level measure is necessary."
Meanwhile, on the morning of the same day, a netizen shared a screenshot of a text message saying, "This is Candidate B. Please be sure to vote," on their social media account and wrote, "Election campaigning ended at midnight last night. I reported this to the Election Commission for violating election law." However, on election day, it is still possible to encourage voting and appeal for support through text messages and SNS posts. This is because the Public Official Election Act was amended in 2017 to allow election campaigning via text messages or the internet even on election day.
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