= Countries asked NEC to share Korea’s election disinfection system =

The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea, together with the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), held the first webinar entitled ‘Election Management During COVID-19’ in order to share the advanced election disinfection system used during the 21st National Assembly elections.  This webinar was held on June 3rd from 8am to 09:30am KST with the participation of election officials from Latin America election management bodies (EMBs) and it is the first in a series of webinars.

Since the Republic of Korea was able to hold the 21st National Assembly elections without any major issues while many countries postponed or canceled elections due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19, many countries have shown great interest in our election management policy.

Accordingly, the NEC used this opportunity to share details on response measures related to COVID-19 such as:

- Management plans for voting and counting regarding COVID-19

- Recruitment and training methods for election officials

- Disinfection activities

This first webinar was held for 10 Central and South American countries that had requested to the NEC to share election management plans ahead of their elections in the second half of this year, and participants included:

- Jonghyun Choe, A-WEB Secretary General

- Daniel Zovatto, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, International IDEA

- Alexander Vega Rocha, National Registrar, RNEC of Colombia

- Salvador Romero, President, TSE Bolivia

In his opening remarks, A-WEB Secretary General Jonghyun Choe emphasized that A-WEB is a network of EMBs from around the world and it can help EMBs to cooperate and support each other in the face of a situation like COVID-19.

The NEC said “we plan to hold between two and four additional webinars for each continent by July, and we hope that our experience of COVID-19 response measures in our election process will help prepare for elections in other countries.”

Meanwhile, the NEC has produced an International Election Program video on the 21st National Assembly Elections in five languages including English, French and Spanish, published a report entitled ‘Election Management in Response to COVID-19 and the 21st National Assembly Elections in the Republic of Korea,’ and continues to respond to requests from the international community.

In particular, the NEC held a video conference on May 29 at the request of the US government in relation to the US Presidential election in November of this year, and explained our disinfection measures. The NEC also received such requests from different countries, including Mongolia and the Kyrgyz Republic, to share so-call ‘K-Disinfection’ measures. On June 9th the NEC will also be attending a webinar held by the Embassy of Sweden to the Republic of Korea to share Korea’s election management experience.
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