Monday 20 March 2017

19th Presidential Election to be Held Early but Process Mostly Unchanged



On March 10, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea confirmed the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye with just under a year left on her term of office. This means Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will continue as Acting President and the 19th presidential election, originally scheduled for December 20 this year, will be brought forward to May 9 to fill the vacancy. There is likely going to be significant international interest in this election given the circumstances, and the biggest question is what happens now in terms of preparing for the election, and what does the law in Korea say about early presidential elections?

Even though no president has been impeached since the establishment of the Sixth Republic in 1987, the Constitution and election-related law set out a clear path for how the NEC should manage this election now the vacancy has been confirmed.

To begin with, as set out by the Constitution, the Prime Minister now takes over the duties of the President temporarily. However, unlike countries like the United States, the next person in the line of succession does not take over the term and full duties of the President. Instead, an election must be held immediately and the newly-elected candidate begins a full five-year term rather than inheriting the previous president’s term of office.

60 Day Deadline

The date for this election has now been set for May 9. This date was chosen by the Acting President in consultation with the NEC and based on Article 68 of the Constitution, which says that ‘(i)n case a vacancy occurs in the office of the President or the President-elect dies, or is disqualified by a court ruling or for any other reason, a successor shall be elected within sixty days.’ Since the Constitutional Court reached its decision on March 10, May 9 is the last day the election can be held according to this article. Usually election day is set to a Wednesday in Korea, but during the first week of May the Monday (Labor Day) Wednesday (Buddah’s Birthday) and the Friday  (Children’s Day) are public holidays, therefore making that week unsuitable for the election. Given the time frame required for preparation, no earlier Wednesday can be selected, so Tuesday May 9 was deemed as the most appropriate day to hold the election.
NEC Chairperson Kim Yong-deok makes an official
statement the day after the Constitutional Court decision

The NEC began the election process from the moment the vacancy was confirmed. Although this process will be shorter than usual, it will still go ahead in full and be managed in the normal way according to the law. For example, usually the preliminary candidate registration period opens 240 days before election day, but as this is obviously not possible in this case, preliminary candidate registration began the same day the Constitutional Court reached its decision and will continue until the full candidate registration period, which takes place over two days stating from 24 days before the election (April 15).

In addition, overseas voter registration has opened immediately. Previously, election law stipulated that overseas voting would not take place during special or early presidential elections until 2018, but an amendment earlier this year sped up the introduction of overseas voting for special presidential elections and allows Koreans abroad to vote in this election. The registration period will end March 30, so make sure to register on the NEC’s specially established website https://ova.nec.go.kr/ if you are a Korean citizen who won’t be in the country on election day.

Most processes to remain as normal

For nearly all other elements of the election process, this election will be no different to previous elections in terms of management (except for longer hours for the NEC staff!). The candidate registration period, the creation of the voters list and all of the voting and counting procedures remain unaffected, and we expect all candidates and stakeholders to continue to abide by election law.

Senior NEC staff meet to discuss
election management policies
One final small change will come after the election result is announced. Usually, the President-elect has at least 40 days after the election and before the incumbent’s term of office expires. However, in the case there is no incumbent president, the Constitution states that the President takes office from the moment their election has been confirmed. Therefore the President will take the oath of office upon official confirmation by the NEC when all ballots have been counted.

Here in the Administration and International Affairs Division, we will be holding an Election Visitor Program together with the 2017 Seoul International Forum on Elections (SIFE) in line with the elections as planned. We will be inviting members of other election management bodies and international organizations focused on elections and democracy from around the world to take part in the program to learn about the Korean election system and share knowledge and experience. For more information, keep checking our website and blog or email us on necvote@gmail.com!


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