Major elections in Korea are generally divided into three types: the presidential election, the National Assembly election, and local elections.
The presidential election is held once every five years. The president is the highest-ranking official in the country. Once elected, the president leads the nation for five years. A president cannot run for the same office again. For this reason, every presidential election carries both the end of one era and the beginning of another. The people elect one person, but they entrust that person with the broad direction of diplomacy, national security, the economy, and public administration.
The National Assembly election is held once every four years. Members of the National Assembly make laws and review the national budget. They also monitor the work of the government. They bring the voices of local communities into national politics. National Assembly elections are held across the country through both constituency seats and proportional representation. Citizens vote for a representative from their own district, and they also vote for a political party. These votes come together to determine the composition of the National Assembly.
Local elections are also held once every four years. In local elections, citizens elect heads of local governments, such as mayors, provincial governors, district heads, and county heads, as well as local council members. Superintendents of education are also elected. These elections are closely connected to everyday life, rather than to distant politics. Roads, parks, welfare centers, schools, garbage collection, local budgets, and neighborhood administration are all linked to local elections. The streets citizens walk on every day and the public facilities they use are shaped by the results of local politics.
In this way, the presidential election returns every five years, while National Assembly elections and local elections return every four years. The calendar repeats itself, but the meaning of each election is never the same. Even when people stand before the same ballot box, their thoughts are not the same from year to year. Prices change. Housing costs change. Jobs change. Children’s schools change. Anxiety about old age changes. For this reason, an election is both a repetition of a system and a response to life.
Election Day is a public holiday. People who have the day off go to polling stations. Some go early in the morning. Some go after lunch. Some go with their families. Voting does not take long. But within that brief moment, several years of life are contained. Five years of judgment are inside it. Four years of memory are inside it. The hand that stamps the ballot may feel light, but the thoughts carried by that hand are not light.