Battle 'Barometer' Swing Districts, Early Voting Rate Higher... "70 Tight Races Only in the Capital Area"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Early voting rates in battleground areas were relatively higher. This is interpreted as evidence that supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea and the United Future Party are rallying more strongly. Regardless of party approval ratings, since this is a winner-takes-all single-member district system where only the first place is elected, the overall composition of seats can be decided based on the results in battleground areas.

Generally, a 5 percentage point difference in vote share is considered a battleground. In the 20th general election four years ago, there were about 60 such districts mainly in the metropolitan area. This time, it is understood that battleground areas have increased nationwide, including the metropolitan area.

On the 13th, Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan said at a joint election countermeasures committee meeting with the Together Citizens' Party held at the campaign office of candidate Kang Tae-woong in Yongsan, Seoul, "There are many closely contested areas in Seoul and the metropolitan area," adding, "Among the 121 districts in the metropolitan area, about 70 remain closely contested, and the election results will depend on how many votes are gained in these areas."

He also said, "I hope many rational voters in closely contested areas such as Yongsan, Jung-gu, Gwangjin, Gangnam, Bundang in Gyeonggi, and Yongin will come out and make sure to vote for candidate number 1, the Democratic Party, in the local district and number 5, the Together Citizens' Party, in the proportional representation."

In fact, close races are unfolding in Seoul Gwangjin-eul (Go Min-jung - Oh Se-hoon), Dongjak-eul (Lee Su-jin - Na Kyung-won), Songpa-eul (Choi Jae-sung - Bae Hyun-jin), Gyeonggi Goyang-jeong (Lee Yong-woo - Kim Hyun-ah), Yongin-jeong (Lee Tan-hee - Kim Beom-soo), Bundang-gap (Kim Byung-kwan - Kim Eun-hye), and others. In the Yeongnam region, Daegu Suseong-gap (Kim Boo-kyum - Joo Ho-young), Gyeongnam Yangsan-eul (Kim Doo-kwan - Na Dong-yeon), Busanjin-gap (Kim Young-choon - Seo Byung-soo), and Busan Nam-eul (Park Jae-ho - Lee Eon-ju) are also battlegrounds.

Early voting rates in battleground areas reflected intense interest. The nationwide average early voting rate was 26.69%, but Jongno, where Democratic Party COVID-19 Crisis Response Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon and United Future Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn faced off, recorded 34.56%, the highest among basic local governments in the metropolitan area.

Early voting rates in Dongjak-gu and Gwangjin-gu were 29.51% and 27.87%, respectively, higher than the overall average. Additionally, in the metropolitan area, Seoul Yangcheon-gu (28.17%), Seocho-gu (28.08%), Songpa-gu (27.79%), Gyeonggi Gwacheon-si (33.95%), Yangpyeong-gun (30.43%), Anyang-si Dongan-gu (29.3%), and Seongnam-si Bundang-gu (28.19%) showed relatively high early voting rates.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.