South Korea: Early voting for presidential election heads for record turnout

Seoul, May 30 (IANS) More than 12 million voters have cast their ballots in early voting so far for next week's South Korean presidential election, according to the national election commission on Friday, as candidates ramped up their campaigns to woo swing voters.

The turnout was 27.17 per cent as of 1 p.m. on the second and last day of early voting for the June 3 vote, marking the highest-ever for the same time since the early voting system was introduced in 2014.

About 44.3 million voters are eligible for the election that will culminate months long political chaos triggered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law bid.

Both Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo have been encouraging people to go to the polls during the two-day early voting period, claiming high turnout benefits their candidates amid a three-way race that included Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Party.

For Friday, the DP's Lee plans to visit Chuncheon and Wonju in Gangwon Province, before heading to Chungju in North Chungcheong Province for his campaign rallies. This marks his first visit to Gangwon during the official campaign period.

Both Gangwon and North Chungcheong Provinces were regions where Lee lost to then candidate Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential election, Yonhap news agency reported.

The PPP's Kim launched a 90-hour non-stop overnight campaign tour across the country in a final push to appeal to voters ahead of the formal vote.

He started off with campaign rallies in Gapyeong, Icheon and Yeoju in Gyeonggi Province.

Kim will then travel to Chungju and Jecheon in North Chungcheong, and Wonju and Chuncheon in Gangwon.

Earlier in the day, Kim delivered a public address at the PPP's headquarters, urging voters to help prevent Lee from taking office.

"To restore the economy, we must stop Lee Jae-myung," he said. "If we fail to stop him now, our economy could collapse in a way that we won't be able to recover even in five or 20 years."

The latest poll on the presidential election, published Wednesday, showed the DP's Lee in the lead at 49.2 per cent, followed by Kim of the PPP with 36.8 per cent. Lee Jun-seok came in third with 10.3 per cent support.

--IANS

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