Registered voters who will be away from home during next week’s National Assembly elections can vote by absentee ballot Friday to Saturday, officials at the National Election Commission (NEC) said on Thursday.
Of the 35.6 million eligible voters for the April 15 elections, about 885,930 were registered to cast absentee ballots at some 500 polling stations across the country on Friday and Saturday.

The number of absentee voters is up 18,210 from the 2002 presidential elections and 67,920 from the 2000 general elections, the commission officials said.

Soldiers account for the majority of absentee voters with 595,950, or 67 percent, they said. Thousands of troops awaiting a mission in northern Iraq will also cast their absentee ballots on Friday, said Brig. Gen. Nam Dae-yeon, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. The troops, training at two army bases outside Seoul, will go to polling booths established in neighborhood schools, he said.