The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea announced that the preliminary candidate registration for the re and by-elections which takes place simultaneously on the 20th presidential election day (March 9) begins from November 9.

The re and by-elections for this time will take place in the regions where the grounds for holding elections are confirmed up to the date of January 31 in 2022 such as invalidation of election, resignation, retirement, and death, etc.

In addition, the re and by-elections in the regions where the grounds for holding elections are confirmed between February 1 and April 30, 2022 will take place at the same time on the day of the 8th nation-wide simultaneous elections (June 1, 2022).

Those who wish to become preliminary candidates should submit documents to prove their eligibility to run for the office including their family relations certificate, and criminal records and certificates of regular education to their election commission of constituency under jurisdiction; and they should pay the deposit of 3 million Korean won (approximately $2,538 USD) which is 20% of the final candidate deposit of 15 million Korean won (approximately $12,673 USD).

* The criminal records and academic background of a candidate can be found on the NEC homepage (http://info.nec.go.kr).

A person in a position who is restricted from running for office, such as a civil servant, and wishes to register as a candidate of the re and by-elections should resign 30 days before election day, which will be February 7, 2022. If the person plans to register as a preliminary candidate prior to that, he/she must resign before registering as a preliminary candidate.

However, if a head of a local government wishes to register as a candidate for the re and by-elections in the same or overlapping district where they are currently serving, he/she should resign his/her position 120 days before election day, which is November 9.

When registered as a preliminary candidate, the candidate may:

• Establish a campaign office (putting up signboards and banners)

• Distribute election campaign cards including a candidate’s spouse and a lineal ascendant and descendant, etc

• Wear campaign sashes or markers

• Send out election campaigning text messages through automatic broadcast communications

• Send out election campaigning e-mails by entrusting the dispatch of e-mails to an agency

• Send out one piece of preliminary candidate promotion material to a certain number of households within the constituency as announced by the election commission (maximum 10% of households in the relevant constituency)

If you have any questions regarding the requirements for preliminary candidate registration or election campaign methods, you can call 1390 or contact your relevant local election commission of constituency under jurisdiction.