Two-day early voting for next week’s local elections ended with a turnout of 20.62 percent on Saturday, the highest for any local elections, the election watchdog said.
More than 9.13 million of the country’s 44.3 million eligible voters cast their ballots during early voting for the June 1 local elections, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).
Up for grabs are 17 metropolitan mayoralties and provincial governorships, 226 lower-level council leadership positions, as well as 779 seats in provincial and metropolitan councils and 2,602 in lower-level local councils.
The turnout was the highest early voting for any local elections, and the fourth-highest for any nationwide election. Early voting turnout for the June 13 local elections in 2018 was 20.1 percent.
The NEC said the final turnout for the upcoming local elections is expected to be higher than the 60.2 percent recorded in 2018.
But the latest turnout was far lower than a record 36.93 percent in early voting turnout for the March 9 presidential election.
South Jeolla Province reported the highest turnout of 31.04 percent, while the southeastern city of Daegu logged the lowest of 14.8 percent.
As for early voting for parliamentary by-elections that will be simultaneously held with the local elections Wednesday, the turnout came to 21.76 percent, the watchdog said.
COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine were allowed to participate in early voting from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, after the regular voting hours between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Source: Yonhap News Agency