The National Election Commission had a meeting on April 10 to discuss the successful management of the 6^th Nationwide Local Elections, attended by 5 government agencies - the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the National Police Agency and the Korea Post.

The NEC had sent an official document to the Prime Minister earlier in February to request cooperation at a national level in the successful management of the upcoming local elections. The said meeting was arranged following this to discuss specific ways of cooperation among the major government agencies.

In particular, the NEC asked the relevant agencies such as the Ministry of National Defense, etc. for active cooperation to prevent cases where military/police officials participate in early voting without having any knowledge of candidates.

With the introduction of early voting, voters are able to vote at early polling stations established nationwide without registration. Voters are also able to get information on candidates through campaign booklets sent out to each household before the early voting period.

l  Early voting period: May 30 (Fri) – 31 (Sat)

l  Campaign booklets to be mailed: by May 25

However, military/police officials who are not able to receive campaign booklets will need to apply for the delivery of campaign booklets from May 13 to 17.

The NEC therefore asked the Ministry of National Defense and the National Police Agency to encourage military/police officials to apply for the delivery of campaign booklets for the upcoming local elections as they made an application for absentee voting for the previous election.

The system will also be set up to allow easy online application via the website http://www.nec.go.kr as well as paper application and the campaign booklets of all candidates will be posted on the website. A request has been made to allow military/police officials to use PCs installed at the military bases and police stations to apply for the delivery of campaign booklets.

Meanwhile, the following requests have also been made by the NEC to the relevant government agencies:

l  (Ministry of National Defense) Allow flexible hours for voting to prevent a long wait at early polling stations;

l  (Korea Post) Make sure election-related deliveries are made regardless of the application period for mail-in voting and the delivery of campaign booklets falling on Saturday.; and

l  (Ministry of Security and Public Administration) Make the upcoming local elections an exception where both road name addresses and postcode addresses are put in the voter list to increase voters’ convenience and prevent the delay while checking their names.

The NEC showed its determination to intensify all its efforts to contribute to the development of democratic politics and national unity through impeccable election management while establishing cooperative relations with the relevant government agencies to conduct the upcoming local elections successfully.