Rival parties on Thursday stepped up calls for voters to cast their ballots in the early voting set to start later this week, seeking to maximize the turnout in the parliamentary elections seen as crucial for the Yoon Suk Yeol government at its midterm.

Ruling People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon made the appeal a day before South Korea is due to begin the two-day early voting, especially calling on shy voters to go to the polls to bring “a victory to the country.”

The parliamentary elections are slated for Wednesday.

“Let’s not care about those who say, ‘We lose if we vote in advance, if we have a high turnout,’ but everyone please vote only thinking that ‘we win if I vote,’ and ‘the Republic of Korea wins if we vote,'” Han said during a press briefing at the party headquarters.

Han especially encouraged “shy voters” to come out and cast their votes, emphasizing that every ballot will count to fight off “potential criminals or unabashed candidates,” apparently referring to some candidates from t
he opposition bloc that have come under criticism for various allegations and ethical lapses.

“Please show that good citizens who live by the law will defeat criminals,” Han said. “The vote you give to the PPP will become a spear to punish criminals and a shield that protects the Republic of Korea, and will become a driving force that will turn Korea into a more reformative and innovative country.”

“I ask every single one of you to trust your own judgment and come out to vote,” he said.

Han will join the entire 254 PPP candidates going to the pre-election polls Friday.

Han was set to continue the campaigning in key battlegrounds in Seoul and the wider Gyeonggi metropolitan region to woo voters.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), visited Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province in the country’s southeast to rally support in the regions in which the party has less standing.

“We need Busan to prevent the PPP from taking over the parliament majority,” Lee said during t
he campaign, casting Busan citizens as people who can “save the country” from a crisis where, “Everything from democracy to peace and people’s livelihoods are at risk.”

Lee also asked voters to participate in the early voting, as well as on Election Day.

“We win if we vote and lose if we give up,” Lee said.

The DP leader picked more than 50 districts that are too close to call, and that his party needs as many DP supporters going to polls as possible to clinch a win.

The DP projects that the higher the turnout in the early voting, possibly over 30 percent, will help the party win in the elections.

In the previous general elections in 2020, the turnout was at 66.2 percent, with the DP securing 180 seats in a massive victory, including the seats won by its satellite party.

“The elections this time are very much about making a judgment on the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s misadministration in the economy,” a DP official said. “We believe that a higher voter turnout in the early polls will work in our favor, a
s most voters who take part in the early voting are economically active.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency