South Korea will hold a second round of mock elections next week for absentee voters in the 2012 parliamentary and presidential races, the first time overseas Koreans will be given suffrage in domestic elections, the country's election watchdog said Wednesday.
The mock elections will be held on June 30 at 158 South Korean diplomatic missions in 108 countries, with 5,484 overseas voters registered to cast their ballots, the National Election Commission
(NEC) said.
Nearly 11,000 people signed up for the first mock elections in November, which took place at 26 missions in 21 countries. Voter turnout was recorded at 38.2 percent.
"This time, we're focusing on checking our computing system, which determines a person's eligibility to vote based on personal data.
(That is why) we didn't recruit many people to take part," said an NEC official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Some 2.3 million South Koreans over the age of 19 are qualified to vote in next year's parliamentary and presidential elections slated
for April and December, respectively.
The mock elections will pick candidates running for parliament in local constituencies or on proportional representation.
"We will determine and fix any problems that may arise in the mock elections process and make sure that our overseas residents can properly exercise their right to vote in next year's parliamentary and
presidential races," the NEC official said.