ⓒYONHAP News

The official campaign for the March 9 presidential election kicked off on Tuesday.

The candidates will be allowed to campaign for the 20th presidency wearing sashes, name tags or other props until March 8, one day before the election.

During the 22-day period, parties and their candidates are permitted to deliver speeches in public places using vehicles or loudspeakers and put up placards.

Candidates are also allowed to place ads in newspapers or on TV, deliver speeches on radio or TV, and release campaign commercials on the homepage of media outlets.

According to the National Election Commission, a total of 14 candidates registered for the election on Sunday and Monday.

President Moon Jae-in called on his administration to conduct a fair and safe presidential election as official campaigning kicked off.

Moon made the remarks during a meeting with his aides, according to his spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

Positively assessing the Cabinet's revisions to the election law establishing a separate voting window for COVID-19 patients or those in quarantine, Moon urged officials to ensure that voter rights are guaranteed in accordance with quarantine protocols.

The president also attributed South Korea’s seven-spot advancement on the Economist Intelligence Unit's(EIU) annual Democracy Index to the country safely holding general elections soon after the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.