Polls open for early general elections in South Korea

Seoul. – South Koreans head to the polls to vote for their new president following the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol due to his declaration of martial law which, although brief, has plunged the country into its worst political crisis in democracy and polarized the electorate.

Voting opened at 6:00 local time (21:00 GMT on Monday) in 14,295 polling stations across the country and will last until 20:00 (11:00 GMT), according to the National Electoral Commission.

You may be interested in: North Korean leader supervises a test of new "killer drones"

The turnout stood at 9.2% three hours after the polls opened, with 4.09 million votes registered by that time, according to the commission, higher than the 8.1% that had occurred at the same time in the 2022 elections, but below the 9.4% recorded in 2017.

A total of 44,391,871 people are eligible to vote in South Korea, including the 15.4 million who already cast their ballots during the two days of early voting last week, representing 34.74% of the electorate, a record percentage since the system was introduced in the Asian country in 2014.

The vote count will begin immediately after the polling stations close, and the winner is expected to be known around midnight, although the National Electoral Commission estimates that the total count of ballots will conclude around 6:00 a.m. Wednesday (9:00 p.m. GMT Tuesday).

Once the count is finished, the South Korean Electoral Commission will convene a plenary meeting between 7:00 and 9:00 to formally approve the election results.

The South Korean snap elections take place exactly six months after Yoon unexpectedly declared martial law, evoking memories of past military regimes and unleashing the country's worst political and social crisis in decades.

The state of exception was in effect for six hours before being overturned by the opposition-controlled Parliament. The former president justified the measure due to alleged "anti-state threats" from other political forces. Yoon was definitively removed on April 4 by the Constitutional Court, the second judicial decision of this type in the country's democratic history, which forced early elections. The former president is being prosecuted for insurrection and abuse of power, and his figure continues to weigh on the campaign. Although he left the conservative People Power Party (PPP), he has urged his supporters to back his political heir, former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, who has shown ambiguity about his stance on the failed martial law.

Kim has focused his campaign on taking advantage of the multiple ongoing trials against the main candidate of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) and leader in the polls on voting intention, the liberal Lee Jae-myung, who has shown himself in favor of punishing those responsible for trying to establish martial law.

Since the elections are held early to replace Yoon and in the midst of an interim government, the new president will take office immediately, without a transition period.

The inauguration ceremony is expected to take place on Wednesday itself, hours after the results are known, although the details will be confirmed once the new leader is determined.

Five candidates are participating in the South Korean presidential race.

In addition to Lee and Kim, who according to the most recent polls garnered around 49% and 37% in voting intention, respectively, Lee Jun-seok, from the minority and conservative New Reform Party (NRP), also runs, in third place in the polls with 10% support; Kwon Young-kook, from the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), and Song Jin-ho, independent candidate.