Photo: Reuters. ROK to hold parliamentary elections on April 15, 2020
As parliamentary elections is coming up shortly, the Korean government is determined to ensure COVID-19 patients and citizens in self-quarantine to be able to vote.
On April 15, 2020, voters are to go to the polls to elect 300 members of the National Assembly that will be in the seats for the next four years. A two-week campaign started on April 2 in the midst of cautious effort to curb newly reported cases of COVID-19. The general election will be held with extra caution, such as running temperature checks and placing hand sanitizers in every polling station.
ROK Minister of the Interior and Safety, Chin Young, stated that in order to ensure the rights of people to vote, COVID-19 confirmed patients will be able to send ballots via postal mail (absentee voting) or participate in advance voting. He also added that the government is seeking for ways to allow those who had not tested positive but were still in self-quarantine to vote.
In the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Korea isn’t alone carrying out elections. Polish Parliament is also in the process of passing the plan to conduct the upcoming presidential election by postal mail. Currently, the bill passed the lower house (Sejm) and is waiting for the approval from the upper house (Senate).
[Sources]
Goclowski, M., & Reuters. (2020, April 7). Polish parliament backs postal ballot to pick president despite rights groups' concerns. Retrieved from https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/polish-parliament-backs-postal-ballot-to-pick-president-despite-rights-groups-concerns
O'Donnell, T. (2020, April 7). South Korea will run temperature checks at polling stations during next week's parliament elections. Retrieved from https://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-run-temperature-checks-141000687.html
Shin, H. (2020, April 2). South Korea to allow absentee voting by coronavirus patients in parliament elections. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-southkorea/south-korea-to-allow-absentee-voting-by-coronavirus-patients-in-parliament-elections-idUSKBN21K080
Ministry of Interior and Safety (2020, April 3) 외교부, 법무부, 행안부 장관, 「대국민 담화문」. Retrieved from https://www.mois.go.kr/video/a01/videoMain.do
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
