Gyeongnam Sports Council President and City/County Sports Council President Elections to be Overseen by Gyeongnam Election Commission

Gyeongnam Election Commission. / Photo by Se-ryeong Lee ryeong@

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The Gyeongnam Election Commission will be entrusted with managing the Gyeongsangnam-do Sports Council President election on December 15 and the city and county Sports Council President elections within the province on December 22.

According to the provincial election commission on the 29th, this is the first election managed by the election commission since the 2020 revision of the National Sports Promotion Act, which changed the elections for city/provincial and city/county Sports Council Presidents to mandatory entrusted elections.

Until 2019, most local sports councils had their presidents concurrently serving as heads of local governments, but with the revision of the National Sports Promotion Act in January 2020, local government heads or local council members are no longer allowed to concurrently hold the position of Sports Council President.

Subsequently, the system transitioned to popularly elected presidents, and in December 2020, the National Sports Promotion Act was revised again to entrust the management of local Sports Council President elections to the provincial and district/city/county election commissions.

Accordingly, the provincial and district/city/county election commissions will manage all election-related tasks including candidate registration, voting and counting, as well as the investigation and enforcement of violations.

Candidate registration for the Gyeongnam Sports Council President election will be held from December 4 to 5, and candidates for the city and county Sports Council President elections can register from December 11 to 12.

Applications can be submitted to the local election commission on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The candidate registration requirements according to the election management regulations for the president can be found on each local Sports Council’s website, and only candidates are allowed to conduct election campaigns for the local Sports Council President elections.

Election campaign methods are governed by each Sports Council’s articles of association and the president election management regulations.

These include ▲wearing sashes or upper garments ▲direct calls and text messages between sign language users ▲use of information and communication networks such as Sports Council websites and email ▲distribution of business cards and appeals for support ▲candidate introductions and opinion presentations on election day.

The candidate opinion presentation meeting on election day is mandatory and will be hosted by the Sports Council Election Management Committee on the day of the election.

Voting will take place on-site at the same location after the candidate opinion presentations on election day, with the time decided through consultation between the election commission and the local Sports Council, typically between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

The winner will be determined after the vote count is completed, based on the results handed over to the Sports Council Election Management Committee by the election commission, and the winner’s information will be disclosed on the Central Election Commission website.

A representative from the Gyeongnam Election Commission stated, “We will work together with the Korea Sports Council, local Sports Councils, and related organizations to establish an election management system that reflects the characteristics of the Sports Councils,” adding, “We will do our best to ensure fair and accurate election management.”

They continued, “We will strictly respond with a zero-tolerance policy to criminal acts that disrupt election order such as vote-buying and donation acts,” and added, “We ask both candidates and voters to participate in creating a clean election atmosphere.”

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