On April 11, 300 assemblymen were elected members of the Korean National Assembly. This event was important in that we chose our leaders. Even though it was the most significant event in recent months, there were regrettable things.

First, the election turnout was low like many previous elections. Although there were lots of events which encouraged people to vote, lots of citizens didn’t vote. Because most people didn’t change their thought that assembly members will continue to work for themselves not citizens, they didn’t want to join the voting. As a result, the election turnout didn’t grow and it remained at half.

Second, we could see regionalism in this election. For a long time, there has been strong regionalism such as regional parties. Until this election, in almost every election most members from the Democratic Party were selected in the southwestern area. In contrast, conservative members were elected in the southeastern area. It shows that most Koreans vote for candidates who are in their regional party , not for candidates who have ability. This phenomenon makes our society not grow and we can’t choose upright people for our leaders.

This bad voting culture may appear in the presidential election this December again. Korea has adopted representative democracy, and it requires citizens’ votes to maintain its system. However, more than half of Korean citizens give up their participation by not voting. Lower than half turnout can’t reflect all citizens’ ideas. A president who is elected in this situation cannot be the true leader of all citizens and the country. If there is a turnout around half in this presidential election, he can’t be the real leader of Korea.

To make an ideal society, voting is most important. We can see its significance in the latest mayoral election in Seoul. Citizens voted for the candidate who listened to their demands. As a result, a new mayor has made the city better than before, and it has made citizens live in a better circumstance. Seoul citizens are glad that they chose the right leader for them in the election. This example shows us that voting is the most important thing to change our society.

Seeing this example, there’s no reason not to vote. We should get out of a bad voting culture. A bad voting culture makes us not elect good leaders. We must make the right decision to elect the leader of our country in December’s presidential election. Remember that voting is the first step to the perfect world that we want.