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Foreigners to cast first ballot in May 31 local elections

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Foreigners with permanent residency here will cast ballots in the upcoming local elections in May, exercising their voting rights for the first time to elect governors, mayors and council members.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), foreigners who have lived here for three years or longer since they obtained permanent residency will be allowed to vote in the local elections on May 31 if they are 19 years or older.

Republic of Korea​ revised the election law last August to allow foreigners voting rights.

The law enables 6,579 foreigners, including 6,511 with Taiwanese roots, to participate in voting to elect mayors, governors and council members.

They also include 51 Japanese, eight Americans, five Chinese and two Germans.

They need to register themselves on the list of foreign residents kept by local governments before the elections.

Across the nation, Taiwanese residents, called "hwagyo" in Korean, are estimated to account for about 95 percent of the permanent foreign residents.

Last July, foreigners with permanent residency on Jeju Island cast ballots on a proposed change of the administrative system there. At that time, 111 hwagyo and three Japanese residents participated in the voting, according to Jeju provincial government.

But on May 31, it will be the first time for foreigners here to cast ballots for local public officials as well as to select lawmakers of local assemblies.

To minimize confusion for foreigners who exercise voting rights here for the first time, NEC has organized mock voting sessions nationwide.

Such sessions were held in Gwangju on March 14 and in Incheon, where some 1,200 foreigners are eligible to vote, last Friday (March 24).

The source of news : Korea.net  March 27, 2006