by Jun Ji-hye
The possible extension of polling hours has emerged as a major issue ahead of the presidential election with support from the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo; while the ruling Saenuri Party opposes it.
Civic groups have called for a revision of the Public Official Election Law to add two hours to the voting time for presidential and parliamentary elections.
“We want to vote. There should be no people who cannot vote when they want to,” they said.
In a statement the groups noted that many employees are forced to work on Election Day although it is a temporary holiday so it is difficult to vote before 6 p.m. Current voting hours in Korea are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Civic groups and the labor sector held a rally in front of the National Assembly Thursday, calling for extension of polling hours.
They cited a survey of 840 irregular workers conducted last year by the Korean Political Science Association, which showed 64 percent responded they were not able to vote in 18th parliamentary elections in 2008 and 42.7 percent said this was because they couldn’t leave the work place during office hours.
The Saenuri Party, which had remained mum over the issue of polling hours, expressed skepticism, saying, “If the rule of voting hours changes just before the presidential election, it will cause confusion.” Prior to this, Rep. Park Seoung-hyo said in an appearance on CBS radio Monday that a two hour extension of voting hours was bound to increase election costs by approximately 10 billion won ($9 million).
In contrast, the DUP’s presidential candidate Moon Jae-in supported the extension of polling hours. “I don’t understand why the Saenuri Party is against voting time extension. Isn’t it much better if it becomes easier for the public to exert sovereignty?” he tweeted Wednesday. “Non-regular workers are being discriminated even in their right to vote. There are many countries that close the vote at 8 to 10p.m.”
Software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo also shared the view that the voting time should be extended. “Many laborers in service industries are not able to vote during the voting hours as they work from dawn till night. It is natural that people should receive more opportunities to vote,” said Ahn’s camp on their Facebook account.