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| Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presides over a relevant ministers' meeting to discuss a new government scheme for the upcoming presidential election to guarantee the right to vote to everyone, including those who test positive for COVID-19 after the early voting period ends, at the Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap |
PM vows all-out efforts to hold fair, transparent election
By Jung Da-min
People who test positive for COVID-19 after the early voting period for the upcoming presidential election will be able to cast their ballots on March 9, as the National Assembly passed a revision bill of the Public Official Election Law allowing COVID-19 patients to vote from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, the ministers of relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, met to discuss election-related affairs, and announced new government guidelines for the presidential election, which entail additional quarantine guidelines to guarantee COVID-19 patients' right to vote.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presided over the meeting.
According to the government, COVID-19 patients will be able to cast their ballots between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on the election day, after the regular voting hours between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. COVID-19 patients who are willing to vote during the 90-minute period will need to get to a polling station on foot or by driving their own car or taking a quarantine taxi.
Kim said the government would do its utmost to ensure voters' rights as well as safety, as the election will be held at the height of the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
"We will make sure that those who come under quarantine, including COVID-19 patients, will be able to cast their precious votes, while also taking thorough (disinfection and quarantine) measures to protect other voters," he said.
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| Officials of the Sejong branch of the National Election Commission (NEC) show specially packaged masks bearing slogans and characters of the NEC to encourage participation in the March 9 presidential election, at a mask production factory in Sejong, Monday. Yonhap |
Kim vowed efforts to hold a fair and transparent election would be made.
"It will be the first time since 2002 for presidential and local elections will be held within the same year… We know very well that holding a transparent election will safeguard our hard-won democracy," he said.
His remarks came a day after the National Assembly passed the relevant revision bills on the Public Official Election Act. Previously, those testing positive between March 5 and 9 after the two-day early voting period on March 4 and 5 would have had no way to cast their ballots. This became a major election issue, as the number of potential COVID-19 patients during the five-day period could be up to tens of hundreds of thousands of people.
According to government data, about 44 million voters are expected to cast their ballots in the upcoming presidential election.
"We will thoroughly disinfect the polling and counting booths where elections are held and voters with virus symptoms on the day of the election will be able to participate in voting at separate temporary voting booths," Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said in a joint statement with Justice Minister Park Beom-kye and Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol.
Minister Kwon said, "For those who wish to cast their ballots on the election day by going out temporarily while in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 or coming into contact with patients, they are asked not to use public transportation to get to the polling booths but instead go on foot or by their own vehicles."
