According to the data from the South Korean Election Commission, on Thursday (May 29), voters actively participated in the early voting for the presidential by-election, setting a new record for voter turnout, with the two main candidates having already cast their votes.
South Korea will hold the 21st presidential election next Tuesday (June 3), with early voting taking place on Thursday and Friday to allow voters who cannot vote on the official election day to cast their votes in advance.
On Thursday, the candidate from the National Forces Party, Kim Wonsu, and the candidate from the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, each cast their vote and urged the public to go out and vote.
Before the polling ban took effect on Wednesday, Gallup Korea released the latest poll data showing the top three candidates as follows: Lee Jae-myung from the Democratic Party (49% support), Kim Wonsu from the National Forces Party (35%), and Lee Jun-suk from the Reform Party (11%).
In the morning, Lee Jae-myung arrived at the polling station in Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, and specifically arranged to vote with three young representatives, stating, “Voting is the most concrete way for the citizens of the Republic of Korea to exercise their sovereignty! I hope that this election can be a starting point for South Korea to return to an era belonging to the youth.”
On Wednesday, Lee Jae-myung also promised to establish a new “Ministry of Climate and Energy” to “address the climate crisis” and to expand and reorganize the “Ministry of Women and Family” to promote gender equality policies and deal with “reverse discrimination” issues.
Kim Wonsu chose to go to the polling station in Gwiyang-gu, Incheon, with his daughter for early voting, which is the district where Lee Jae-myung served as a member of the parliament, symbolizing a determination to “reverse the situation.”
He stated that only by participating in early voting and increasing voter turnout can the election situation be favorable to the National Forces Party.
Kim Wonsu also mentioned concerns that some public opinion feared that early voting might be manipulated and affirmed that he would do everything to prevent such things from happening.
In addition, the candidate from the Reform Party, Lee Jun-suk, conducted early voting at 10 a.m. on Thursday in Dongtan, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province. The candidate from the Democratic Labor Party, Hwang Young-uk, voted in the city of Naju, South Jeolla Province at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday.
According to the data from the South Korean Central Election Management Committee, as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, the voter turnout reached 10.51%, with 4,669,252 out of 44,391,871 voters having completed their votes. This is also the highest voter turnout in a national election up to the same time since the start of early voting.
Kim Wonsu originally had a support gap of over 20 percentage points with Lee Jae-myung when the campaign started on May 12. Despite some narrowing later on, he ultimately failed to convince Lee Jun-suk to withdraw from the race to consolidate conservative votes.