Local election turnout hits 48.9% by 2 PM, surpassing 2022 levels

South Korea's local elections are seeing robust participation, with voter turnout reaching 48.9% by 2 PM on election day, incorporating results from the early voting period. This figure represents a significant increase of 8.2 percentage points compared to the same time in the 2022 local elections. It also stands as the highest turnout recorded for this specific time slot in the history of local elections since the tracking began in 1998.

The regional distribution of turnout shows Jeollanam-do leading with 58.0% of its eligible voters casting ballots. Following closely are Gangwon Province at 54.5% and Jeollabuk-do at 54.2%. In contrast, Gwangju Metropolitan City reported the lowest turnout at 45.3%. Major cities like Seoul recorded 49.4% and Busan 48.5%.

As of 2 PM, a total of 21,833,284 voters had participated. Voting is scheduled to conclude at 6 PM across 14,288 polling stations nationwide. For context, the final turnout for the 2022 local elections was 50.9%, and for the 2018 elections, it was 60.2%.