Balsošanas tiesību profils

South Korea

Asia · kr

The president is elected by direct popular vote in a single round on a plurality, for one non-renewable five-year term. The unicameral 300-member National Assembly is elected for four years under a hybrid system combining single-member constituencies with proportional representation seats.

Profils pēdējo reizi pārskatīts August 29, 2026

South Korea votes under the constitution adopted in 1987, which restored the direct popular election of the president after fifteen years of indirect selection. Elections at every level are run by the National Election Commission, an independent constitutional body established in 1963 with the same standing as the National Assembly, the executive and the courts, and staffed by commissioners who may not belong to a political party. Voting is on paper, marked by hand, and is not compulsory; the voters list is compiled automatically by the local authority from resident registration records rather than by voter application. Since 2014 any voter may cast a ballot at any early voting station in the country without applying in advance, and overseas Koreans vote at diplomatic missions in presidential and National Assembly elections. Challenges to a presidential or National Assembly result go directly to the Supreme Court, which must rule within 180 days and may annul an election only where a violation is found to have had a substantial effect on the outcome.

Kā balsošana notiek šodien

Balsošanas vecums: 18 un vairāk
Vēlētāju reģistrācija: Automātiska
Identifikācija: Nepieciešams personu apliecinošs dokuments ar fotogrāfiju
Obligāta balsošana: Nē
Balsošana pa pastu: Ierobežots
Agrīnā balsošana: Pieejams visiem
Balsošana tiešsaistē: Nav pieejams
Balsošana no ārvalstīm: Ierobežots

The voters list is prepared automatically by a computerised system under the head of the local Gu, Si or Gun government during a five-day window starting 28 days before a presidential election, and is confirmed 12 days before polling day; a voter never applies to be registered. At the polling station the voter presents identification and then signs, stamps or leaves a thumbprint on the voters list before receiving a ballot. Voting is expressly non-compulsory and there is no penalty for abstaining. There is no postal voting open to all: voters unable to attend may apply for home or shipboard voting, and overseas voters must register in advance and then vote in person at a diplomatic mission, which for non-resident overseas Koreans covers only presidential elections and the proportional representation seats of the National Assembly. Foreign nationals holding permanent residence for three years or more may vote in local elections but not in national ones. There is no online voting.

Kā mainījās vēlēšanu tiesības

Katrs ieraksts dokumentē izmaiņas tajā, kas varēja balsot, vai kā tas notika — gan paplašinājumus, gan ierobežojumus, gan procesuālas reformas.

1948Paplašināšana
The first election to the Constitutional Assembly was held on universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage, establishing adult suffrage from the founding of the republic.
Status and History of the National Election Commission
1960Reforma
After the disputed presidential election of 15 March 1960, election administration was taken out of the interior ministry and given to a dedicated commission under the third constitutional amendment; it closed and lost its function after the May 1961 coup, and its standing as a constitutional body was written into the fifth revision of the constitution in 1962.
Status and History of the National Election Commission
1972Ierobežošana
The Yushin Constitution ended the direct popular election of the president, replacing it with an indirect vote by an electoral college that lasted fifteen years, and gave the president unlimited re-election.
Constitutional History of Korea
1987Paplašināšana
The ninth constitutional amendment restored direct popular election of the president and limited the office to a single five-year term.
Constitutional History of Korea
2005Paplašināšana
The voting age was lowered from 20 to 19.
South Korea: Youth Participation
2009Paplašināšana
Overseas voting was reinstated by the revision of the Public Official Election Act of 12 February 2009, after the Constitutional Court held on 28 June 2007 that excluding overseas nationals breached the principle of universal suffrage; the earlier overseas system had run from 1967 to 1971 before being abolished in 1972.
Overseas Elections
2013Reforma
Early voting was introduced at by-elections in the first half of 2013 and extended nationwide at the 2014 local elections, letting any voter cast a ballot at any early voting station in the country without separate registration; 4,736,980 of 41,296,228 voters, or 11.5 per cent, used it in 2014.
Early Voting
2019Paplašināšana
The National Assembly lowered the voting age from 19 to 18 in late 2019, adding roughly 540,000 voters, about 1.2 per cent of the electorate, and it applied first at the National Assembly election of 15 April 2020.
18-year-olds hit the polls for first time in Korea

Aizsardzības pasākumi balsu skaitīšanā

Balsošanas biļetena veids: Papīra vēlēšanu biļeteni
Pēcvēlēšanu audits: Tikai tiesas apstrīdēšana
Vēlēšanu administrēšana: Neatkarīga komisija
Vietējie novērotāji: Jā
Starptautiskie novērotāji: Jā

Ballots are marked by hand on paper. At counting centres they are passed through a sorting machine, then verified by counting staff, with a manual hand-verification step inserted between sorting and the counting machine from the 2024 elections in response to public fraud claims. Political parties and candidates may appoint up to six counting observers each and independent candidates up to two; at a polling station each party and candidate may recommend up to two voting observers, to a maximum of eight in the station, and at early voting stations the number is not limited. Anyone in a counting centre may compare the posted result with the figures published on the commission's website in real time. Early voting ballot boxes are stored under surveillance cameras whose footage is protected against alteration. There is no routine post-election audit: the only route to reopen a declared national result is an election lawsuit before the Supreme Court, which must rule within 180 days and may annul only where a violation is found to have had a substantial effect on the outcome. Ballots and election documents are retained for election litigation and discarded a month after the deadline for bringing a suit, or a month after the final ruling where a suit was brought. International observation is by invitation rather than accreditation: the commission runs an International Election Observation Program at its major elections, inviting election officials, academics and international organisations, which returned to in-person observation at the 2024 National Assembly election.

Noderīga informācija

The National Election Commission has nine commissioners appointed in three blocks of three, by the President, the National Assembly and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, serving six-year terms; they may not join a political party and can be removed only by impeachment, a prison sentence or political involvement.Introduction to the Electoral and Political Systems of the Republic of Korea
A challenge to a presidential or National Assembly election goes straight to the Supreme Court, without a preliminary petition to the election commission, and the court invalidates a result only where a violation is deemed to have had a substantial effect on it.Introduction to the Electoral and Political Systems of the Republic of Korea
Ballot counting machines have been in use since 1995 and ballot sorting machines since 2002, but the commission classifies the sorter as auxiliary equipment and requires counting staff to inspect every ballot visually.Counting
Foreign nationals who have held permanent residence in a locality for three years or more may vote in that locality's elections, though not in national ones.Right to Vote and Electoral Eligibility