The National Election Commission(NEC) said the ballot used to elect a party for proportional representation in the 22nd National Assembly will be a record 51-point-seven centimeters or more than 20 inches in length, requiring authorities to manually sort the ballots on April 10.

An NEC official told KBS that this is because automatic sorters can handle ballots containing up to 34 parties with the maximum ballot length of up to 46-point-nine centimeters. Thirty-eight parties have registered candidates for the upcoming general election.

Ballots were manually counted during the previous 2020 general elections, with ballots measuring 48-point-one centimeters in length, surpassing the maximum 34-point-nine centimeters manageable by then-automatic sorters.

Counting the number of sorted ballots, however, will be possible using machines.