The country’s three terrestrial broadcasters conducted exit polls in all 246 constituencies for the general elections on Wednesday.

This is the first time the three terrestrial broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and SBS -- took exit polls in all constituencies.

In addition, the exit polls were calculated using only data gathered near the polling stations.

In the 2008 general elections, data gathered at the polling stations was given 40 percent weighting in calculating the figures. The remaining 60 percent was accounted for by pre-election surveys conducted over the telephone.

With the broadcasters choosing to cover all constituencies, more than 13,000 individuals were deployed to 2,484 polling stations across the country. The exit polls are estimated to have cost the broadcasters about 7 billion won ($6.1 million). The results of the exit polls were estimated to have a margin of error of 2.2 percent to 5.1 percent, depending on the number of voters casting ballots at each polling station.

The exit polls were introduced in local elections in 1995, and until this year the polls were only taken at between 70 to 100 constituencies. However, the results of the exit polls have shown significant differences from the actual results since the general elections for the 15th National Assembly in 1996.



By Choi He-suk

(cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)