Brandy Logan
‘48.1cm’ 역대 최장 투표용지, 최연소 ’18세’ 유권자…숫자로 보는 제 21대 총선
People arriving at polling stations across South Korea for this year’s general election on Wednesday might be in for quite the shock… as they’ll be presented with the longest ballot paper in South Korea’s election history.
On top of that, for the first time ever, 18-year-old South Koreans will be able to make their voices heard in the democratic process.
For more on the process, here’s our Yoon Jung-min.
For this year’s election, you might want to know when and how to vote, and how the voting works.
We break the election down into its key numbers.
For those who have a right to vote, the ballots will be open from 6 AM to 6 PM.
Be sure to vote in time if you’re planning to cast a ballot, and don’t forget to bring your identification cards with you,… such as registration cards or passports.
As the poll closes at 6, exit polls will be released.
That’s the total number of seats up for grabs at the National Assembly.
253 seats are allocated for constituencies and 47 are determined by proportional representation.
This year, 30 of the 47 proportional representation seats will be redistributed among the parties based on a new system.
At the polling station, you will get two ballot papers, one to vote for a candidate running for your constituency, and the other to vote for the party you support for the proportional representation seats.
This year’s proportional representation ballot papers are the longest ever used in Korea.
They’re 48-point-1 centimeters long,… as there are 35 parties competing for proportional representation seats.
It’s the largest-ever number.
During the last election in 2016, there were 21 parties battling over the proportional representation seats and the second ballot paper was over 33-centimeters long.
In fact, electronic counters cannot read ballot papers longer than 34-point-9 centimeters, so… for the first time in 18 years,… the votes will be counted by hand.
From this year, 18 year-olds those who were born before April 16, 2002 are eligible to vote.
This comes as South Korea has lowered the voting age from 19 to 18.
That lower voting age means an extra roughly 548-thousand people are eligible to vote.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
#vote #election #ballot
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