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Our citizens in foreign countries started voting today (1st). But Corona19, which hit the world, prevented nearly 85,000 voters, nearly half of those in foreign countries, from voting. So, some citizens even filed a constitutional petition.

Reporter Hye-kyung Jeong continues.

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Starting today, the elections for foreign nationals in 66 countries around the world have begun.

[Kim Moon-jung / Tokyo residents in Japan: As a person of the people, I came with a bit of a feeling of being imperative to vote.]

In this general election, the total number of overseas electors is 17,959.

However, more than half of the 8,900 people cannot vote.

This is because the Central Election Commission suspended 86 missions in 51 countries, including the United States and Germany, in consideration of the government's requests and the safety of citizens due to the worsening of the Corona 19 situation.

[Park Ji-yoon / L.A., Los Angeles, USA: This election was particularly interesting. I am very sorry that I could not participate because of the corona incident.]

Even if an overseas elector returns home today, it will remain in quarantine until the 15th of the voting day.

For this reason, e-voting or postal voting was discussed as an alternative in the field.

In the case of voting by mail at home, it is only possible if the person has a serious disability or lives on a remote island.

Why the National Election Commission canceled the vote and the detailed reasons for each country are not disclosed, but some citizens even filed a constitutional appeal.

[Lee Eun-seo / Berliner of Berlin, Germany: (Berlin) It's not a total ban. There are only regulations that can only be used by up to two people at the same time in a public place. I think elections will be possible if you prepare at the mission in advance.]

Progress has been strong in the recent two overseas votes.

At the time of the 2017 presidential election, Moon Jae-in's overall vote rate was 41.08%, but he raised 59.2% in the overseas vote.

Even in the 2016 general election proportional division, the Saenuri Party was only 26.9%, far below the 38.3% overall vote rate, but the Justice Party scored far above the overall vote rate.

(Video editing: Commissioner Yang, VJ: Young-sam Jeong)

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