President Lee: "If Runoff Voting Is Introduced for Presidential Elections, Ranked-Choice Voting Will Be Discussed"

In response to the question, "Why are rankings assigned in the vote for Speaker of the National Assembly?"
Lee directly answers, "It's like holding a runoff in advance"

President Lee Jae-myung stated on May 11, "If South Korea introduces a runoff voting system in presidential or other major elections, it will likely lead to discussions about simultaneously adopting a preferential voting system."

On this day, President Lee shared a user's post on X (formerly Twitter) questioning, "Why are rankings assigned during the vote for the National Assembly Speaker?" and made these remarks in response.

President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a congratulatory speech at the Parents' Day ceremony held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul on May 8, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee explained, "When I was the leader of the Democratic Party, I introduced the preferential voting system together with the runoff voting system," and added, "If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, there would be no need to hold another runoff. Instead, a preliminary runoff can be conducted in advance during the first round of voting."

This means that in an election with three or more candidates, if voters pre-select their candidate preferences, the ballots cast for the third-place candidate can be automatically redistributed to the first and second place candidates in the event of a runoff, thereby achieving the effect of a runoff election.

President Lee further explained, "The purpose of the preferential voting system is to save the cost and time required for a runoff," but he also pointed out, "There is a limitation in that voters who select both first and second preferences in the initial round are assumed to make the same choices in the runoff."

He then advised, "Please be aware that if you do not select a second preference, your vote will be considered abstained in the runoff if your first-choice candidate is eliminated. Do not misunderstand, and be sure to select both your first and second preferences."

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