Nation goes to polls Wednesday

By Lee Tae-hoon

Staff reporter

Voting begins nationwide early this morning to select local administrative chiefs, councilors, education superintendents and education board members, amid speculation that the governing party will secure a majority of the seats.

The 13,338 polling stations nationwide opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 6 p.m., following the 13-day official campaign period that ended last night.

The polls are regarded as an interim evaluation of President Lee Myung-bak's first two years in office.

Some 38,861,000 voters are eligible to vote, including 58,000 overseas citizens who have reported domestic residence in Korea and 12,000 foreigners who have maintained permanent resident status for three years or longer.

Up for grabs are 3,991 posts ― 16 governors or mayors of large cities; 228 administrative chiefs at lower units, 3,649 local councilors, as well as 16 education superintendents and 82 board members.

People will be able to find out the results of the elections in major constituencies at around 11 p.m. Full ballot counting will be completed by 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., according to officials.

The June 2 elections will mark the most expensive and largest elections ever.

A record high 830 billion won ($690 million) of taxpayers' money has been spent preparing for the vote, up from 200 billion won in 2002, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).

Election observers, however, fear that the voter turnout rate may be lower than the 51.6 percent in 2006 due to low participation by young voters and general public apathy.

An NEC survey released Monday found that 77.1 percent of people in their 50s expressed their willingness to exercise their right to vote, whereas only 39.3 percent of those in their 20s replied that they would head to the polls.

In a last-ditch campaign Tuesday, the ruling Grand National Party appealed to voters to punish the opposition parties for their "failure" to run the country under the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations.

In response, the opposition urged the voters to support them so that they can provide a check and balance to the power of the Lee Myung-bak government and local authorities, which are unilaterally pushing major construction projects.

Voters will be required to bring a photo identification card issued by public offices, such as a resident registration card, driver's license or passport.

Each voter will be required to fill in four different ballot sheets in each of the two rounds of voting to select representatives for local governments and councils.

After presenting a valid ID, voters will be given four sheets for the first round of voting in which they will pick an education superintendent, a member of the education board and two council members ― one representing the province or city, the other for a smaller constituency, such as a county.

After marking the four sheets, voters will be required to put them in the ballot box.

Then they will move on to the next round of voting, in which they will select four more local representatives, including a governor, mayor or smaller administrative district chief, as well as party preferences for two councilors under the proportional representation system.

오늘 전국 지방선거 실시

제5대 지방선거가 오늘 아침 전국적으로 동시에 시작된다. 여당이 과반수를 당선시킬 것이라는 추측 가운데 지방 자치 단체장과 지방 의회 의원, 그리고 지방 교육감 및 교육위원 3,991명이 선출된다.

전국에 13,338개의 투표소에서 오전 6시부터 오후 6시까지 투표가 실시되며, 58,000명의 해외거주자를 포함, 3,886만 1,000명의 유권자들이 참여하게 된다.

약 82억원의 세금이 선거운동, 관리 및 운영에 쓰여지는 이번 지방 선거는 역대 가장 높은 비용이 들어가는 선거다.

그러나 중앙선거관리위원회의 전망에 따르면 이번 선거의 투표율은 2006년 51.6%에 못 미칠 것으로 보인다. 특히 여론조사에 응한 20대 중 투표를 하겠다는 응답자의 비율은 39.3%에 그쳤다.