Parliament passes bill to allow voting by expatriates

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details at bottom)
SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill to
give voting rights to 2.4 million Korean expatriates in presidential and
parliamentary elections starting in 2012.
Residents abroad over the age of 19 who hold South Korean citizenship will be
able to vote in the presidential election and for candidates running for
parliament on proportional representation. Those who are residents in South Korea
but temporarily living overseas can vote for parliamentary candidates in their
constituencies as absentee voters.
Voting will be conducted at South Korean diplomatic missions, although
alternative polling places can be provided in areas where there are no embassies
or consulates.
The bill was submitted by the national election watchdog late last year following
a ruling in 2007 that said denying suffrage to residents outside the country is
unconstitutional.
South Korea is among the few countries that do not currently grant suffrage to
overseas nationals. The voting rights were taken away in 1972 by the then Park
Chung-hee administration which amended the election law to prolong authoritarian
rule.
Rival political parties have yet to agree whether to allow sailors on board ships
to vote while out of the country. Partisan differences had caused the delay in
the bill's passage initially expected on Monday.
Floor leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties agreed to convene a
special committee during this month's extraordinary session to further discuss
whether to allow sailors to cast ballots.
"As agreed upon, the ruling and opposition parties must keep their promise by
forming a special committee as soon as possible to discuss the matter," National
Assembly speaker Kim Hyung-o said during his closing remarks at the plenary
session.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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