Parliamentary elections in South Korea: a case for Ghana’s December 7, 2020 general elections
South Koreans who are 19 years of age (legal age for voting) and above cast their ballots on Wednesday, April 14, 2020, starting at 6 am, in the country’s parliamentary elections despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Korean government decided to temporarily suspend the quarantine rules that day to permit persons undergoing self-quarantine to also exercise their voting rights. Every single voter wearing mouth-nose covered masks had their temperatures checked at the entrance of the poll station.
Every electorate disinfected their hands with sanitisers and put on plastic gloves provided by the government to all electorates before casting ballots. To strictly ensure social distancing rules, voters stood at least one meter apart from others; such logistics Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) ought to prepare and make available ahead of the December 7, 2020, general elections in Ghana.
In South Korea voting kicks off at 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. at all 14,330 polling stations across the nation, according to the National Election Commission (NEC) of Korea. The number of eligible voters in South Korea is also around 44 million out of the 51,259,914 million population of the country.
Also, did you know that, South Korea holds the quadrennial parliamentary elections to fill their 300-seat unicameral National Assembly with 253 directly elected seats and 47 proportional representation slots? Yes, it is!
The country has gone ahead with the elections amid the Coronavirus pandemic because of its proactively-effective mass testing strategy in handling the outbreak since February 2020, the massive and rapid testing and quarantine efforts glaringly slowed the spread of COVID-19. This paved way for their citizens to freely exercise their sacred democratic rights even at a time that the rest of the world struggles in lockdown attempt to contain the situation.
It is very evident that Koreans paid the price for it; the pain of discipline in abiding by the initial lockdown directives from the government, thus yielding today’s positive outcomes.
It is my fervent hope that my fellow Ghanaian citizens take President Akuffo-Addo’s COVID-19 directives more seriously by staying home as declared in Ghana, for there will come a time (probably July ending) when the impact would be felt positively or negatively depending on how you the citizens abide by the declaration efforts of our President.
Indeed, he is the right President at the right time, but how you adhere to his directives can porously undermine his globally touted leadership credentials in this fight. We ought to be more patriotic by exhibiting matured citizenship today than ever.
From the plethora above, the December 7, 2020, general elections in Ghana could be held like it’s happening today in Korea only if we listen and adhere to all the declared measures while making logistical provisions for the citizens at the polls.
I again would appeal to our Ghana President Nana Akuffo-Addo, and the government apparatus to get closer to Korea and tap into the reasons for the over 70% recovery cases in the country thus far; worthy of emulation with South Korea continuing to see a low amount of new COVID-19 infections.
South Korea now has a total of 10,564 cases with 7,368 recoveries as I pen down this article, Wednesday, April 15, 2020, for my beloved Ghana.
Fellow Ghanaians and friends of Ghana, let’s keep social distancing, avoid unnecessary movements, wash hands with soap regularly, stay home, reach out for help through the appropriate designated emergency call lines, support one another and keep praying.
Elephant regards from the land of the morning calm, South Korea. Yes, Ghana, we can also do it.
The author is the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party branch in South Korea.
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