SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - South Korea's snap presidential election drew an unprecedented level of voter participation by Tuesday afternoon, with turnout reaching 65.5 percent as of 2 p.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC). It marks the highest voter turnout at this time of day in any presidential election in the country’s history.
Of the 44.39 million eligible voters, more than 29 million had cast their ballots by 2 p.m. The figure includes those who voted early, as well as overseas, absentee, and shipboard voters. Early voting, held on May 29 and 30, brought out over 15.42 million voters, making up 34.74 percent of the electorate.
Compared to past elections, participation is notably higher. Turnout is 0.7 percentage points above the same time in the 2022 presidential race, and 5.6 points higher than in 2017.
South Jeolla Province reported the highest regional turnout at 76.0 percent, followed closely by Gwangju at 74.0 percent and North Jeolla at 73.8 percent. The city of Sejong also saw 70 percent turnout. While in-person voting in some areas appeared lower, strong early voting numbers in the Jeolla region, over 50 percent in all three locations, boosted the overall figures.
The southern port city of Busan had the lowest turnout at 62.1 percent, with Daegu and Jeju both at 63.3 percent. South Chungcheong Province saw 63.4 percent turnout. In the greater capital area, turnout stood at 64.9 percent in Seoul, 65.3 percent in Gyeonggi Province, and 63.7 percent in Incheon.
With such high turnout, attention is now on whether final participation could top 80 percent for the first time since the 1997 election. That year, before early voting was introduced, turnout stood at just 47.3 percent by 1 p.m.
The final turnout was 77.1 percent in 2022 and 77.2 percent in 2017. This year, high early voting participation, second only to the 2022 record, appears to have pushed figures higher overall. As of 2 p.m., voter turnout for election day alone, not counting early ballots, stood at 30.8 percent.
"Given this is a by-election caused by a vacancy in the presidency, the high public interest appears to be reflected in the turnout," an NEC official said.
The NEC updates turnout figures every hour based on data collected 10 minutes prior. With polls set to close at 8 p.m., vote counting at the 254 counting stations nationwide is expected to begin between 8:30 and 8:40 p.m.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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