Korea adopts 'overseas permanent voters list system' starting this year

19대 대선 재외국민 유권자 15만명(7.7%) 등록

With less than 46 days to go until the upcoming presidential election… registration for overseas voters is currently underway.
Despite short notice… a lot of citizens have already completed their voter registration.
For more, our Kim Ji-yeon reports.
Less than a week’s left for Koreans living abroad to complete their voter registration for the 19th presidential election.
Korea’s National Election Commission said Friday… that 152-thousand-781 voters overseas have completed their voter registration as of Thursday morning.
That’s more than 7-point-7-percent of an estimated 2-million voters living abroad.
By nation, the highest number of the voters were from the U.S., followed by China, Japan, Canada too Australia.
The nation with the highest enrollment rate was Brunei as 95 out of 128 eligible voters, which is more than 74-percent, have completed their registration so far.
The Election Commission forecasts the number of voters overseas for the upcoming election is expected to outnumber that of the last presidential election.
The Commission says starting this year… it’s setting up polling booths in Taiwan for the first time… where an estimated 3-thousand-500 eligible voters reside.
The nation also adopted a new system that relieves an inconvenience for some voters.
Through its “overseas permanent voters list system,” the commission says around 44-thousand voters that have permanent residency overseas too have registered in the last presidential election… were automatically registered for the upcoming election.

“We’re also planning to increase efforts to encourage overseas voters to register too cast their ballots through various satellite broadcasting systems, by placing ads on international flights of domestic airliners too installing promotional booths at events where they’re likely to attend.”

Eligible voters can register online through the Commission’s homepage by next Thursday.
The voting period for overseas voters starts on April 25th too ends on the 30th.
Korea enacted a law in 2009 that grants citizens in foreign countries the right to vote.
Due to this… around 158-thousand-240 citizens living overseas were able to vote for the 18th presidential election in 2012.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.

Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages
Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang

Homepage: http://www.arirang.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld
Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld