Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Asia-Pacific

South Korea sees record early voting

By YANG HAN in Hong Kong | China Daily | Updated: 2025-05-30 09:15
Share
Share - WeChat
A woman votes at a polling station inside the Incheon International Airport during early voting of the presidential election in Incheon, South Korea, on Thursday. PEDRO PARDO/AFP

South Koreans waited in long lines on the first day of early voting on Thursday to elect a new president for the next five years following the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeol, with voter turnout reaching a record high.

The early voting, which will last two days through Friday, was held ahead of the snap election on Tuesday. Those who are among the 44.39 million eligible voters can choose to cast their ballot in advance at 3,569 polling stations across the country.

The snap election was triggered by the impeachment on Yoon, who was supposed to serve until 2027, over his martial law decree last December.

The turnout of the first day of early voting reached 19.58 percent — the highest level recorded for the first day of early voting in any nationwide election since early voting was introduced in 2014 — according to Yonhap News Agency, citing data from South Korea's National Election Commission.

It was 2.01 percentage points higher than the 17.57 percent turnout recorded during the first day of early voting in the 2022 election.

Early voting plays an important role in South Korea's election system. In 2022, the early voting turnout was 36.9 percent, which accounted for nearly half of the final voting rate of 77.1 percent.

Major candidates, including the main opposition Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung, Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party, and minor Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok, all cast their ballots on Thursday.

Former South Korean presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in, as well as former prime minister Han Duck-soo, also cast their ballots, urging the public to vote.

"With institutional distrust and online disinformation, early voting becomes a barometer of public confidence," David Tizzard, a professor of Korean studies at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University in South Korea, told China Daily.

Noting a record of nearly 80 percent of overseas voters casting their ballots during a six-day voting period last week, Tizzard said a higher turnout for early voting is likely, particularly if the younger generation sees it as a way to exert their influence outside traditional frameworks.

"South Korea's ability to carry out transparent early voting procedures will signal whether its citizens still trust the system, or if political theater has permanently clouded rational civic participation," said Tizzard.

Regaining image

"The world will also be watching, and South Korea will be keen to regain the image it worked so hard to create over the past few decades."

Opinion polls conducted from May 28 are prohibited from being published until the end of the main presidential voting.

In a survey released by pollster Gallup Korea before the prohibited period, Lee Jae-myung gained an approval rate of 49 percent, followed by Kim's 35 percent, and Lee Jun-seok's 11 percent.

The election day on June 3 has been designated as a temporary public holiday to allow voters to cast their ballots. The results are expected to be announced in the early hours of the next day, with the inauguration of the new president to follow.

In a separate survey by Gallup Korea, 86.8 percent of respondents said they would "definitely vote" in the upcoming election and 9.5 percent of the people said they would go to the polls if possible.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: zoosk00lvideos性印度| 亚洲jizzjizz在线播放久| 蜜臀精品国产高清在线观看| 在线观看亚洲免费| 中韩高清无专码区2021曰| 欧美vpswindowssex| 交换朋友夫妇2| 色噜噜视频影院| 国产极品麻豆91在线| 99在线视频精品| 手机在线观看精品国产片| 亚洲AV激情无码专区在线播放 | 色综合久久久久久久久五月| 国产精品成人免费视频网站| 一区二区三区伦理高清| 日本免费一区尤物| 亚洲乱码日产精品BD在线观看| 狼人香蕉香蕉在线视频播放| 四虎影视永久费观看在线| 91手机看片国产永久免费| 国产视频一区二| jazzjazz国产精品| 搡女人真爽免费影院| 久热这里只有精| 欧美日本韩国一区二区| 伊人国产在线播放| 精品精品国产高清a毛片| 国产免费插插插| 欧美jizz40性欧美| 国产香蕉97碰碰久久人人| xvideos亚洲永久网址| 成全视频在线观看免费看| 久久水蜜桃亚洲AV无码精品| 欧美另类videosgratis妇| 亚洲美女一区二区三区| 精品久久久久久中文字幕大豆网 | 久久久久国产一区二区三区| 欧美一区二区三区激情视频| 亚洲精品国精品久久99热一| 精品中文字幕在线观看| 四虎永久网址在线观看|