Voter turnout exceeds 79%, highest in 28 years

More than 79 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by the time polls closed on Tuesday, marking the highest turnout since the 1997 presidential election, according to the National Election Commission.

The polls were open between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Election Day — two hours longer than usual, as stipulated for early elections. Including last week's two days of early voting, 35,240,416 out of 44,391,871 eligible voters cast their ballots, amounting to 79.4 percent, the NEC reported. The turnout was 2.3 percentage points higher than during the same period in the 2022 presidential election.

By region, Gwangju posted the highest turnout at 83.9 percent, while Jeju Province recorded the lowest at 74.6 percent. Seoul reported 80.1 percent turnout.

South Korea marked its highest voter turnout in 1987 at 89.2 percent — the same year direct presidential elections were introduced under the reforms of the 1987 Constitution. The last time turnout exceeded 80 percent was in 1997, when 80.7 percent of voters participated and opposition leader Kim Dae-jung defeated ruling party candidate Lee Hoi-chang.

Turnout then steadily declined, falling as low as 63 percent in 2007. It only rebounded to 77.1 percent in 2022, when then-candidate Yoon Suk Yeol defeated Lee Jae-myung, who was this election's front-runner.

The June 3 election was held to fill the leadership vacuum triggered by the impeachment and removal of former President Yoon, following his controversial declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.

Of all eligible voters, 34.74 percent cast their ballots in early voting last week on Thursday and Friday — the second-highest early voting turnout recorded in a presidential race, just behind the 36.93 percent logged in the 2022 presidential election. The early turnout figure also includes overseas, absentee and onboard voting.

After the polls closed, ballot boxes were transported to counting centers, where vote counting began immediately.

The NEC projected that 70 to 80 percent of votes would be counted by midnight, likely providing a clear indication of the winner. In the closely contested 2022 election, Yoon emerged as the clear winner at around 2 a.m. the next day. In the 2017 election, Moon Jae-in’s lead was evident as early as 10 p.m. on election night.

Detailed turnout information is available on the NEC’s official website at info.nec.go.kr.