By Yi Whan-woo
Candidates for the April 13 general election began registering with the National Election Commission (NEC), Thursday.
Held every four years, the upcoming election will be the first since the National Assembly agreed new constituency boundaries, in line with a Constitutional Court ruling in 2014.
A total of 300 lawmakers, including 253 voted in through direct ballots held in their respective constituencies, will gain seats for the next Assembly session.
The remaining 47 proportional representation seats will be allocated to parties relative to the overall number of votes they receive.
Each candidate will be given an election number once they register.
The NEC will accept registration until 6 p.m., Friday, at its local offices nationwide.
It will update the number of registered candidates in real time on its website (https://info.nec.go.kr) and also on its apps for smartphones and other mobile devices.
The NEC will also make public candidates’ pledges, assets, military service records criminal records, academic career and tax payments on its website until April 13.
The elections are expected to serve as a litmus test for the ruling Saenuri Party, main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minor opposition People’s Party, all of which have experienced internal strife while nominating candidates.
The Saenuri Party and the MPK fielded candidates in 250 and 235 districts, respectively.
The official 13-day campaign will start on March 31, and candidates will be able to put up posters in public places, make speeches on television or in public places, use the Internet, social network services and text messages.
The NEC will run polling stations at the country’s diplomatic missions abroad from March 30 to April 4 for Korean voters there.
Early voting will be run at selected polling stations across the country over two days from April 8.
The total number of seats up from grabs has remained unchanged from 2012 while the number of election districts has been increased from the previous 246. In return, the number of seats for proportional representatives decreased by seven from 53.
The Seoul Metropolitan area, including the country’s capital, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province ― the country’s most populated area ― has a combined 122 election districts, up from 112 four years ago.