Bill passed to allow Covid patients to vote in S.Korea prez poll

Seoul, Feb 14 (IANS) South Korea's National Assembly on Monday passed a bill to allow Covid-19 patients and people in quarantine to vote from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the day of the March 9 presidential election after regular polling closes.The revision to the Public Official Election Act was approved at a plenary session, reports Yonhap News Agency.In order to cast their ballots, virus patients and quarantined people need to get temporary leave permits from health authorities.The move came following concerns that the ongoing virus situation could affect hundreds of thousands of people in the upcoming election as there had been no rules to guarantee those who test positive for Covid-19 after the early voting period, which falls on March 4-5, and people who go into self-isolation just before the presidential election could cast their votes.
--IANS ksk/

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