The most important part to note is that all forms of election-related debates in South Korea are organized and administered by the National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission (NEBDC). The NEBDC was created in 2004 to manage televised debates in a fair and neutral manner and is under the auspices of the National Election Commission (NEC). The NEBDC receives input from academia, the media and debate experts to decide the format of the debates and ensures they are broadcast on major TV channels at appropriate times to allow the most people possible to watch them.

The NEBDC has various important decisions to make in the run-up to presidential debates. They decide on how many debates there will be and the topics each will cover, where the debate will be broadcast, the length and format of the debates and finally who is invited to participate. Each of these decisions have a major impact on the candidates and therefore are always controversial, but being under the control of the NEC allows the NEBDC to make neutral decisions without being influenced by the candidates and political parties themselves.

The Public Official Election Act begins by setting out the minimum number of presidential debates in Article 82.2.1, where it is outlined that the NEBDC must organize at least three debates with at least one candidate during a presidential election period. Candidates that receive an invitation to the day are decided by the NEBDC based on a set of simple criteria. Invited candidates must meet at least one of three minimum requirements to take part

This allows for a broad range of candidates to participate in the debate while at the same time ensuring that there are not an overly large number of candidates who do not have a at least a reasonable level of public support.

Last presidential election back in 2012, the minimum three debates were held during the 22 day campaign period, with the first two debates including three candidates, before one candidate withdrew from the race, leaving just two candidates for the final debate. They represented the two main parties at the time, with Moon Jae-in representing the Minjoo Party and Park Geun-hye, who went on to become President, representing the Saenuri Party.

It is likely that this election will see a significant change in the number of candidates. Currently, five parties have at least five seats in the National Assembly and/or received at least 3% of votes in last year’s National Assembly election, meaning their candidates are all guaranteed to be invited onto the debate stage should they wish to participate. This does not include other independent candidates who may register and meet the third requirement that would allow them to be invited to the three debates. This raises the prospect of this year’s presidential election including some of the largest debates in the history of presidential elections in South Korea.

The topics and timings for this year’s debates have also been set since the announcement of the election calendar. Presidential debates in Korea always begin after the candidate registration period, which this year is April 15 and 16 and are held during the campaign period, which this year runs from April 17 until the day before the election, May 8. All the debates will be shown on two of the largest TV terrestrial TV channels in Korea, KBS and MBC, and will be viewable online. The topics also follow the trend of previous election, splitting politics, the economy and society into three separate debates. The schedule is as follows:

In the interest of transparency and to make sure questions that people want answered are put to the candidates, the NEBDC takes question submissions from the public on its website or by mobile, mail or fax. Anybody may submit a question, and the most commonly submitted questions will be asked during the debate. For details on how you can do that for this year, you can go to the website (www.debates.go.kr) and submissions will be taken from March 22 to April 22.

To ensure the debates are fair and balanced, the NEBDC also takes applications for TV debate monitors, who observe the whole process of the debate. Applications are open to anybody and the deadline in April 7. You can find all the details on how to apply here. In addition, the NEBDC will be taking feedback on its website from viewers in order to improve its work.

The presidential debate system is designed to ensure candidates compete on their policies and experiences and make the candidates responsive to the citizens concerns. The NEBDC and us here at the NEC hope all Koreans engage, submit a question and tune into the debate. 

Author: Luke Butcher

Administration and International Affairs Division

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.

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.

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!