Doubts are mounting over the appropriateness and efficiency of the measure to allow Koreans living abroad to cast ballots for presidential and parliamentary elections at home, as only a meager proportion of them have shown interest in exercising their voting rights.
An additional amount of money can be justified to give the rising number of overseas Koreans more opportunities to express their political preference and thus increase the voter turnout to strengthen the representativeness of each election winner. But the low rates of eligible Korean expatriates joining the elections have raised the question of whether the extra expenditure is worth it and the need for specific efforts to lead more of them to vote.
According to the National Election Commission, only one in every 10 Korean voters abroad has registered for the Dec. 19 presidential election. Whatever the reasons might be, it should embarrass election officials that just 10 percent of the overseas Korean electorate of some 2.23 million registered for the poll over the three-month registration period that ended Monday.
That figure is higher than that for the April parliamentary election, in which overseas Koreans could cast ballots for the first time, when only 5.7 percent of them registered. But that is no cause for complacency. The increase in registration is attributed largely to the fact that voters in general have more interest in presidential elections than in parliamentary polls.
There is no guarantee that even the low number of people who registered will actually vote. Less than half of the overseas voters who registered for the April election cast their ballots. Election officials predict around 70 percent of those registering for the upcoming presidential poll will actually vote. It may well be natural to question the wisdom of sending 55 election management officials abroad and spending a large amount of money only to see a meager proportion of the overseas electorate ― 2.5 percent in the April election and 7 percent forecast for the December vote ― come to the polls. The NEC, which spent more than 21 billion won ($19 million) arranging for overseas voting in the last legislative election, has set aside another 17.2 billion won for the upcoming presidential poll.
It is certainly too early to insist on rolling back the measure that allows Koreans in 107 foreign countries to cast ballots in the elections in their homeland. With the country expanding its global presence, the number of Koreans who have permanent residency, run a business, study or travel abroad is expected to continue rising and they should not be blocked from reflecting their views on the political process at home. It needs to be noted that Japan also saw a disappointing turnout of 2.7 percent when it first granted overseas nationals voting rights in 2000.
Election officials should work out methods to further simplify and facilitate the process of registration and voting, which many overseas Koreans say is still too complicated. Improvements need to be made on the current system, in which overseas Korean voters who are often scattered across spacious areas are required to visit a limited number of designated diplomatic missions over a one-week period. Koreans abroad, for their part, are urged to pay more heed to exercising their voting rights introduced after a long political debate and costing a large sum of taxpayers’ money.
Regardless of their lack of interest, major presidential candidates have been eager to court the overseas electorate, who could have a significant impact on what looks to be a close-run contest. Voters abroad are expected to account for about 0.7 percent of the total votes in the presidential election. Political observers note that even this meager proportion could still affect the tight race between conservative ruling party candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye and either of her two liberal rivals ― Rep. Moon Jae-in from the main opposition party and Ahn Cheol-soo, a software mogul and political independent.
Encouraging more overseas voters to vote is also needed to avoid a heavy turnout from a certain region having a disproportionate effect on the election results.
