South Korea sees record turnout in early voting of parliamentary elections

Turnout for South Korea's early voting in current parliamentary elections hit a record high as the ruling and opposition parties set for a heated race on April 10.

A total of 13,849,043 voters, out of 44,280,011 eligible voters, cast their ballots at 3,565 polling stations across the country on April 5-6, according to the National Election Commission.

The turnout rate of 31.28 percent marked the highest turnout for any parliamentary elections since the early voting system was introduced in 2014.

The reason why many South Korean people actively participated in the early voting is because they want to show their dissatisfaction toward current administration's policies and behavior, Lee Wang-Hwi, professor of political science at Ajou University in South Korea, told China Daily.

The approval rating of President Yoon Suk-yeol fell for five weeks straight to 36.3 percent, according to a survey released on April 1 by Realmeter and commissioned by the Energy Economy News Daily.

Those who did not vote during the early voting period can cast their ballots on the election day scheduled on April 10 to select a new 300-member National Assembly, including 46 proportional representation seats.

Nearly 80 percent of eligible voters said they would go to the poll in the upcoming legislative elections, according to a survey released by the NEC on April 4.

In a March 29 survey released by Gallup Korea, 37 percent of the 1,001 voting-age South Koreans said they support the ruling People Power Party, or PPP, while 29 percent of respondents said they support the main opposition Democratic Party.

Another 12 percent said they support the Korea Innovation Party, a new party founded and headed by former justice minister Cho Kuk. The number was a significant rise of 6 percent from the survey conducted in early March.

More than 20 percent of respondents also said they would vote for the new party via the proportional representation vote, indicating its rising popularity among South Koreans besides the two major parties.

The DP and its allies currently hold an absolute majority in the National Assembly with 180 seats so the upcoming election will greatly affect the remaining three years of President Yoon's government of his single five-year term.

The PPP, which holds 101 seats, is looking to scoop big wins in the general elections with an expectation to secure over 110 seats while the DP aims to retain its parliamentary majority, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"Normally, opposition party supporters use this opportunity to show their determination and strong support," Lee Wang-hwi said, explaining why Jeonnam, a strong base of DP, posted the highest turnout of 41.2 percent among other regions.

But he said people should be cautious about the early voting turnout because there might be more voters coming out to support the ruling party on the election day.

Lee Jun-han, professor of political science at Incheon National University, said high turnout in early voting is a positive factor for the final voting turnout but it is still hard to predict the result.

"It is true that in previous parliamentary elections if the final turnout exceeds 60 percent, the Democratic Party and its allies were in a more favorable position. But it is difficult to predict which party is more advantageous just by early voting turnout," Lee Jun-han said, noting the different results in presidential and local elections.

In the last parliamentary elections in 2020, the early voting turnout was 26.69 percent. The final turnout was 66.2 percent, the highest since 1992.