More than 15 million voters have cast ballots in early voting for the presidential election, according to the National Election Commission on Friday, with attention now turning to how the near-record turnout might affect Election Day voting on Tuesday.

The final early-voting turnout was 34.74 percent, the second-highest figure since nationwide early voting was introduced in 2014, according to the NEC. This year's turnout is down 2.19 percentage points from the all-time high of 36.93 percent, recorded in the 2022 presidential election.

An estimated 15,423,607 voters cast ballots during early voting, which began at 6 a.m. Thursday and closed at 6 p.m. Friday, the NEC said.

By region, South Jeolla Province recorded the highest turnout at 56.5 percent, followed by North Jeolla Province at 53.01 percent and Gwangju at 52.12 percent. The southeastern city of Daegu had the lowest turnout at 25.63 percent. (Yonhap)