Nearly 7 million voters on Friday headed to polling stations on the first day of early voting for next week’s parliamentary election, with the preliminary turnout reaching a fresh high in the elections considered a midterm referendum on the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
According to the National Election Commission, a total of 6,910,510 out of 44,280,011 eligible voters cast their votes on the first day of the two-day early voting held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The turnout for the first day stood at 15.61 percent. It marked the highest rate for the first day of all early voting among previous general elections since 2014, when the nation first introduced the early voting system.
Voters cast ballots at 3,565 polling stations nationwide ahead of Wednesday’s main vote to elect a new 300-member National Assembly for the next four years.
In the 2016 general election, the voter turnout on the first day stood at 5.45 percent. In the following 2020 election, it rose to 12.14 percent.
Friday’s turnout,
however was slightly lower than the first-day turnout of 17.57 percent for the 2022 presidential election, recorded as the all-time highest turnout among all types of national elections.
On the first day of early voting, turnout exceeded 10 percent in all 17 major cities and provinces nationwide.
The region with the highest voter turnout was South Jeolla Province, at 23.6 percent, followed by North Jeolla Province, Gwangju city, Gangwon Province and Sejong city, with 21.36 percent, 19.96 percent, 17.69 percent and 16.99 percent, respectively.
The turnout for Seoul was recorded at 15.83 percent.
Early voting ends Saturday.
The quadrennial race holds significant importance for the ruling People Power Party (PPP) as failure to regain a majority could potentially render President Yoon a lame duck for the remaining three years of his single five-year term.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which had secured a landslide victory in the previous elections, aims to retain its parliamentary majority.
Af
ter calling on the nation to exercise their voting rights, Yoon cast an early vote in the southeastern port city of Busan.
Rival parties have also stepped up calls for voters to cast their ballots in the early voting, recognizing the potential impact of the advance voting turnout on determining the final election outcome.
Leaders of both parties visited polling stations, urging voters to exercise their rights.
“If you go to the polling station, (we) win, and if you don’t go to the polling station, the Republic of Korea will fail,” PPP leader Han Dong-hoon told reporters after casting a ballot at a polling station in Seoul.
Citing the high turnout rate, DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung said it shows the public’s interest in politics.
“I ask that people actively participate in the voting today and tomorrow,” Lee said after voting in the central city of Daejeon while on the campaign trail.
The voter turnout for the two-day early voting was 26.7 percent and 36.8 percent in the previous elections in 2020 and 2016,
respectively.
The DP has said it aims to achieve an early voting turnout of 31.3 percent and a total turnout of 71.3 percent for this year, assuming that a high turnout will lead to victory for the party.
In the previous election, the total turnout reached 66.2 percent, and the DP won 180 out of 300 seats.
The PPP, however, has refuted the assumption, arguing that high turnout does not necessarily favor the DP.
According to a survey conducted jointly by Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV earlier this week, 80 percent of respondents expressed a definite intention to cast their votes.
Among those intending to vote, 39 percent said they plan to visit polling stations during the early voting period, while 58 percent responded they plan to vote on Election Day next Wednesday.
Source: Yonhap News Agency