Growing foreign electorate puts voting rights in focus at South Korea’s local polls
South Korea allows certain foreign nationals to vote in local elections – those aged 18 or older who have held permanent residency status for at least three years are eligible to cast ballots.
A woman votes at a polling station during local elections in Seoul, Jun 3, 2026. (Photo AFP/Pedro Pardo)
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SEOUL: On the streets of Seoul’s Daerim-dong neighbourhood, district council candidate Kang Kwang-bin is making his final appeal to voters.
“Please support candidate number two! Please support candidate number two! Thank you,” he calls out to passersby – in Mandarin.
The language choice has caught the attention of some voters in Wednesday’s (Jun 3) local elections.
In areas like Daerim-dong, home to one of South Korea’s largest ethnic Chinese communities, candidates are increasingly wooing a growing pool of foreign residents who are eligible to vote.
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This little-known feature of South Korea’s electoral system – especially rare in Asia – has drawn renewed scrutiny in recent years.
A GROWING FOREIGN ELECTORATE
South Korea allows certain foreign nationals to vote in local elections. Under the law, foreign residents aged 18 or older who have held permanent residency status for at least three years are eligible to cast ballots.
This election, a record 151,000 foreign residents are eligible to vote, according to election authorities. The figure is more than 22 times higher than when the system was first introduced in 2006, when only about 6,700 foreign voters qualified.
As the electorate becomes more diverse, local governments and election campaigns have stepped up efforts to reach foreign voters.
In Gyeonggi Province, the country’s most populous region surrounding Seoul, voter information materials were produced in 13 languages, including English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Nepali.
“I think it’s only natural that we can vote,” a foreign restaurant owner, who has lived in South Korea for 15 years, told CNA.
“If you have lived here for a long time, you should be able to choose someone who will work for this area because it directly affects our daily lives.”
Others say practical issues matter more than the background of candidates and voters.
“I don’t really pay much attention to who gets elected. As long as they do a good job, that’s enough for me. Daily life is more important than politics,” said a Chinese voter in Daerim-dong.
DEBATE OVER WHO GETS A VOTE
The issue, however, has become increasingly controversial.
Critics argue that voting rights should be tied to nationality and reciprocity, pointing out that South Koreans living in countries such as China and Japan largely do not enjoy similar rights.
Public opinion surveys suggest many South Koreans share that sentiment.
A recent poll found nearly seven in 10 respondents opposed granting voting rights to citizens of countries that do not offer South Koreans the same rights.
The debate has focused particularly on Chinese nationals, who make up the vast majority of foreign voters. According to South Korea’s National Assembly Budget Office, Chinese citizens accounted for nearly 80 per cent of eligible foreign voters in previous local elections.
The issue is especially visible in Daerim-dong, where Kang is seeking a council seat. Kang himself is a naturalised South Korean citizen, originally from China’s northeastern Jilin province.
While foreign-born candidates remain rare in South Korean politics, their presence has become more visible as the country’s foreign resident population grows.
“In my view, there is little doubt that the growing number of Chinese residents has been a key factor in bringing this issue back into the spotlight,” said Kim Gidong, an assistant professor of political science at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
But he argued that the broader issue extends beyond any single nationality.
“It would be more constructive to shift the focus away from a specific nationality and instead discuss the broader question of what kind of immigrant society South Korea wants to become,” he said.
The discussion comes as South Korea faces mounting demographic challenges, including a rapidly ageing population and one of the world’s lowest birth rates.
Policymakers increasingly view immigration as one way to offset labour shortages and population decline.
Government data released in March showed that about 1.7 million foreign nationals were residing in the country as of May 2025, up 8.4 per cent from a year earlier.
TEST FOR PRESIDENT LEE
The elections are also being closely watched as a political test for President Lee Jae Myung’s administration.
Voters are choosing mayors and governors across 16 cities and provinces in the first nationwide ballot since Lee’s snap presidential election victory last year.
The results are expected to provide an indication of public sentiment toward Lee’s first year in office and whether his ruling Democratic Party can consolidate support.
For the opposition People Power Party, the elections represent an opportunity to recover from the political fallout surrounding former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law declaration in 2024.
Recent polls show the gap between the ruling and opposition camps narrowing, with Seoul emerging as a key battleground.
Source: CNA/dn(ca)
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