Candidate Lee Yongbin: "Election Commission's New Voter Plan Will Foster a Fair Election Environment"

[Asia Economy Honam Newsroom, reporter Park Seon-gang] On January 16, Lee Yongbin, a preliminary candidate for the National Assembly representing Gwangsan-gu Gap, Gwangju, from the Democratic Party of Korea, stated, "The National Election Commission has established a comprehensive response plan for 'New Voters in School Uniforms (New+Voter)' following the expansion of voting rights to those aged 18." He added, "This will serve as an opportunity to create a free and fair election environment."

Candidate Lee explained, "With the amendment to the Public Official Election Act passing the National Assembly on December 27, approximately 500,000 new 18-year-old voters have gained the right to vote. Among them, about 140,000 are high school seniors, and in the Gwangsan-gu area, the number is estimated at around 12,660 (Gwangsan-gu Gap: 4,528, based on those aged 18)." He emphasized, "Along with diverse election education programs that reflect the characteristics of educational settings, we must also prepare alternatives for out-of-school youths who are not included in this target group (nationwide: 52,539, Gwangsan-gu: 371), so that no one becomes a criminal simply because they are unaware of election laws."

He continued, "Illegal election involvement using educational authority, visits to schools by political parties or candidates, or acts that infringe on the right to learn through loudspeakers should not occur." He further stated, "If we create a forum for public discussion to reflect the voices of the New Voter generation in this general election, it can drive significant changes in our society."

On January 5, candidate Lee named 18-year-old voters as 'New Voters (New+Voter)' and proposed: ▲Respect for New Voters ▲Acceptance of New Voter Sensitivity ▲Creation of a Public Forum for New Voters.

Meanwhile, high school senior New Voters are allowed to engage in election campaigning verbally among classmates in the same classroom. They may also campaign by speaking directly over the phone. However, campaigning using club affiliations is illegal. It is also prohibited to hold election rallies where students are gathered for speeches at locations other than classrooms.

When sending text messages, the recipient list must not exceed 20 people per transmission, and using a program to automatically select and send to recipients is also prohibited by law.

There are no participant limits for platforms such as KakaoTalk or Facebook Messenger, but indiscriminately sharing poll results without citing sources is illegal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.