Candidates competing to run in April parliamentary race hit 1,426: NEC

SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- The number of candidates running to win a seat at the upcoming parliamentary race stands at 1,426, the National Election Commission (NEC) said Saturday.

The number represents an average competition ratio of 5.8 to 1, with some 60 days remaining before the April 13 election.

The candidates will compete for 246 electoral seats up for grabs. The remaining 54 seats in the 300 seat National Assembly are distributed through a proportional representation system.

Of the candidates, 771 or 54.1 percent were competing to win the ruling Saenuri Party ticket, with numbers for the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea totaling 313 or 21.9 percent of the total. There were 167 people trying to win nominations to run for the minor opposition People's Party with 41 vying to win a candidacy from the progressive Justice Party.

By gender, the NEC said men outnumbered women nine-to-one with 1,286 candidates, with people in their 50s accounting for 53.8 percent of the total.

yonngong@yna.co.kr
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