May 9, 2017, will be the presidential election day for the 19th head of state of the Republic of Korea.

The Ministry of the Interior made the announcement during a cabinet meeting on March 15. The presidential election will be held on May 19 due to the impeachment of the former president.

The ministry said that the presidential election day will be a temporary national holiday.

Minister of the Interior Hong Yun-sik said, “Although the upcoming election will be held in a relatively short period of time to select our next leader, the government will make an all-out effort so that this can become one of the most transparent and clean elections.”

“Through the Fair Election Support Office, we will closely cooperate with the National Election Commission and local government bodies across the country in order to faithfully carry out a legal election and to properly manage related affairs,” said the minister.



The second clause of Article 68 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea states that if there is a vacancy in the office, a successor shall be elected within 60 days. Under the first clause of Article 3 of the Public Official Election Law, the election day must be announced 50 days ahead of the election date.

Also on March 15, the ministry opened the Fair Election Support Office for the 19th Presidential Election.

The office will be in charge of overall management of the presidential election. It will review and support election-related works of local government bodies, in cooperation with related government organizations, including the Korea National Police Agency and the National Election Commission.

By Jeon Han, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photos: Yonhap News, Ministry of the Interior
hanjeon@korea.kr