Exit poll results to be announced shortly after polls close at 6 p.m.
More than half of eligible voters had cast their ballots in South Korea’s local elections by 5 p.m. Wednesday, pushing turnout to 57.3 percent — surpassing the final turnout recorded in the previous local election.
According to the National Election Commission, the 5 p.m. turnout was 6.4 percentage points higher than the final turnout of 50.9 percent in the 2022 election and 9.7 percentage points above the level recorded at the same time four years earlier.
Of the country’s 44.65 million eligible voters, 25.61 million had voted, including about 10.5 million, or 23.51 percent, who cast ballots during last week’s early voting period.
Voting kicked off at 6 a.m. at 14,288 polling stations across the country, and ends at 6 p.m.
Voters are choosing 16 mayors and governors, 16 education superintendents, 227 local government heads and roughly 4,000 local council members. Elections are also being held in 14 constituencies to fill vacant National Assembly seats, including in Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, Daegu and Busan.
The election is also viewed as a test of public sentiment toward President Lee Jae Myung’s administration and the major parties.
cjh@heraldcorp.com
