The turnout for the local by-elections Wednesday, deemed a litmus test of public sentiment since the April general elections, tentatively reached 24.62 percent, according to the state election body.
Out of the total of 8.6 million eligible voters, 2.1 million cast their ballots at 2,404 polling centers nationwide, the National Election Commission (NEC) said after voting stations closed at 8 p.m.
Up for grabs in Wednesday’s by-elections were five local administrative seats — the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, as well as the heads of Busan’s Geumjeong District, Incheon’s Ganghwa County, and the Yeonggwang and Gokseong counties in South Jeolla Province.
The final tally included the result for the two-day early voting last week, at 8.98 percent.
By region, the turnout for the vote for Seoul’s education chief came to 23.48 percent.
The turnout for the four other local administrative seats was estimated at 53.9 percent, which is higher than the 48.7 percent logged in Seoul’s Gan
sgseo Ward chief by-election last year and 50.9 percent in the 2022 local elections.
People stand in line to fill out ballots at a polling station at a high school in Yeonggwang County in South Jeolla Province on Oct. 16, 2024, as the by-election to elect the new county head begins. (Yonhap)
People stand in line to fill out ballots at a polling station at a high school in Yeonggwang County in South Jeolla Province on Oct. 16, 2024, as the by-election to elect the new county head begins. (Yonhap)
Former President Lee Myung-bak (R) casts his ballot at a polling station in Seoul on Oct. 16, 2024, as the by-election to elect a new superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education begins. (Yonhap)
Former President Lee Myung-bak (R) casts his ballot at a polling station in Seoul on Oct. 16, 2024, as the by-election to elect a new superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education begins. (Yonhap)
Observers say the election could put to test the leadership of the ruling People Power Party (
PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) chiefs, Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jae-myung, respectively, who are considered the next presidential candidates.
The outcome of the election could also shape the second half of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s five-year term, as the opposition intensifies its political offensive against the PPP and the president, with some even raising the possibility of Yoon’s impeachment.
The PPP is looking for a sweep in its traditional home ground — Busan’s Geumjeong District and Incheon’s Ganghwa County — to recover from the declining approval ratings for Yoon and the ruling party after its crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections.
In Geumjeong, PPP candidate Yoon Il-hyun runs neck and neck against DP candidate Kim Kyung-ji, after the DP and the minor Rebuilding Korea Party successfully unified their candidacies at the last minute.
A loss on home turf for conservatives like Geumjeong could take a toll on the PPP and Han, who was elected as the party’s new chief
in July just three months after he resigned from the position to take responsibility for the April defeat.
The DP is in a three-way battle with two minor parties in Yeonggwang County but believes it has a good shot at winning in Gokseong, and seeks to turn the tables against the PPP in Geumjeong District.
Meanwhile, the by-election for Seoul’s education chief takes place after left-leaning predecessor Cho Hee-yeon, who had served since 2014, received a suspended prison sentence in August for abuse of power and was stripped of his post.
Three candidates are running for the post, but the race is expected to be a close two-way contest between Jung Keun-sik, a progressive honorary professor of sociology at Seoul National University, and Cho Jun-hyuk, a conservative former one-term lawmaker.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
