A voter casts their ballot at the Gwangan 2nd polling station, located at the Suyeong-gu Life and Culture Center in Busan on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
A voter casts their ballot at the Gwangan 2nd polling station, located at the Suyeong-gu Life and Culture Center in Busan on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
(Yonhap)
(Yonhap)

By-elections are taking place in over 20 constituencies nationwide Wednesday.

The elections will fill 23 vacant offices, including Busan's education chief and five heads of municipal or county-level local governments.

With Friday's Constitutional Court ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment just two days away, the by-election results are widely regarded as a litmus test of voter sentiment in South Korea's polarized political landscape.

Polling began at 6 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.

Among the most closely watched races are those for the heads of Seoul's Guro District and Damyang County in South Jeolla Province, the superintendent of education for Busan, and the mayors of Asan in South Chungcheong Province, Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province and Gimcheon in North Gyeongsang Province.


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