Early voting turnout for South Korea’s ninth nationwide local elections ended at a record 23.51 percent on Saturday, 2.89 percentage points higher than the previous high of 20.62 percent recorded in the 2022 local elections.
The National Election Commission said 10.49 million of the country’s 44.64 million eligible voters cast ballots during the two-day early voting period.
The first day of early voting set a new record for local elections, with turnout reaching 11.6 percent, surpassing the previous high of 10.18 percent set in 2022. The second day recorded a turnout of 11.91 percent.
South Jeolla Province posted the highest turnout nationwide at 38.95 percent, followed by North Jeolla Province at 35.05 percent, Gwangju at 27.83 percent and Sejong at 27.67 percent.
Daegu recorded the lowest turnout at 18.65 percent, followed by Gyeonggi Province at 20.96 percent, Busan at 21.29 percent and Incheon at 21.62 percent. Seoul’s turnout stood at 23.84 percent.
tammy@heraldcorp.com
