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.
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| 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.
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| 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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