= Overseas voting to begin at 178 diplomatic missions from February 23 to 28, 8:00am to 5:00pm everyday =

The National Election Commission announced that the total number of 226,162 overseas Koreans who have the right to vote including 196,980 overseas absentees and 29,182 overseas voters are finally confirmed for the 20th presidential election.

The figure shows an increase of 1.7 percent from the number of 222,389 people on the voters list for the 18th presidential election, and a decrease of 23.2 percent from the number of 294,633 people for the 19th presidential election.

<Number of People on the Overseas Voters/Overseas Absentees List in History>

        When looking by continent, the highest number of confirmed voters came from Asia with 49 percent(110,818) out of the whole overseas voters, followed by North America with 73,381 voters and European region with 35,591 voters; these three continents accounted for 95 percent of the total number of voters. By country, the highest was from America(53,073), followed by China(29,827), and Japan(28,816) the next.

The overseas voting will take place during the period that each overseas election commission designates between February 23 and 28 from 8:00am to 5:00pm everyday. However, the voting hours are subject to change in case of natural disasters, wars or riots, and for other inevitable reasons with the expected number of voters taken into consideration.

As for the voters who are on the overseas voters list (overseas absentees included) but return home before the starting day of the overseas voting period, they can vote on March 9 by reporting to Gu/Si/Gun election commissions by the election day within their district attaching the documentation that verifies their return to Korea.

The overseas ballots are sent to Korea by diplomatic pouch. Under presence of the observers who are recommended by the parties with a negotiating body at the Incheon International Airport, the NEC will send them by certified mail to Gu/Si/Gun that have a jurisdiction over those ballots, and they will be counted together with the domestic ballots on March 9.

The NEC said that it will do its utmost for managing the voting and counting process in a fair and transparent manner, so that the voters will exercise their right to vote without any inconvenience; also it asked the voters to examine the policies and election pledges of the candidates in details, and cast their ballot in an active manner.