South Korea's local elections see record early voting turnout

South Korea has set a new record for early voter turnout in local elections, with the final figure reaching 23.51% for the upcoming June 3 local elections.

This turnout surpasses the previous record of 20.62% set during the 2022 local elections by 2.89 percentage points. The National Election Commission announced that out of the 44,649,908 eligible voters, 10,498,411 cast their ballots during the two-day early voting period, which concluded on May 30. The first day of early voting also broke records for local elections, indicating strong public engagement.

Regional disparities in turnout were evident. Jeollanam-do province led the nation with an impressive 38.95% early voting rate, followed by Jeollabuk-do (35.05%) and Gwangju (27.83%). In contrast, Daegu recorded the lowest turnout at 18.65%, with Gyeonggi (20.96%) and Busan (21.29%) also showing lower participation rates. Seoul's turnout stood at 23.84%.

For the concurrent by-elections for the National Assembly, the overall early voting rate was 24.12%. Notably, the Busan Buk-gap constituency, a closely watched race, saw a turnout of 25.57%, exceeding the average. However, Pyeongtaek-eul in Gyeonggi, a five-way contest, had one of the lowest by-election turnouts at 18.39%. Voters will cast their ballots at their registered polling stations on the official election day, June 3. Voters in areas with by-elections will receive an additional ballot.