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Single vote in Tuesday's election worth at least 75.84 million won

Published: 02 Jun. 2025, 21:11 Updated: 03 Jun. 2025, 22:35

National Election Commission staff check through the presidential election ballots on May 31 in eastern Seoul. [YONHAP]

How much is a single vote worth in the June 3 presidential election?

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), on Monday, a record 44,391,871 eligible voters were registered for the 21st presidential election. While Korea’s population is declining, the number of eligible voters continues to rise due to aging demographics.

One way to estimate the value of a single vote is by dividing the total national budget the president will oversee during their five-year term by the number of voters.

Based on this year’s government budget of 673.3 trillion won ($489 billion), the five-year total amounts to approximately 3,366.5 trillion won. Divided by the number of eligible voters, each vote is worth about 75.84 million won.

When factoring in local government and public institution budgets, as well as the tendency for government spending to increase annually, the value of a vote is even higher.

The government allocated 386.7 billion won in contingency funds to the NEC for organizing the presidential election — the highest ever. An additional 9 billion won was assigned to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to cover emergency operations during the election. That equates to about 8,914 won per voter.

National Election Commission staff check through the presidential election ballots on May 30 in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

"Labor costs rose due to the addition of manual ballot reviews," said an NEC official, referring to the new system introduced to address concerns over potential election fraud.

Candidates are allowed to spend up to 58.85 billion won on their campaigns. Since the state reimburses this amount, the election is ultimately funded by taxpayers.

Each candidate pays a 300 million won deposit to run. In the primary stage, Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung paid 400 million won, and People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo paid 300 million won.

Candidates who win more than 10 percent of the vote are reimbursed 50 percent of their campaign expenses, while those who win more than 15 percent receive a full refund.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM KI-HWAN [[email protected]]