[On-site in] In a nail-biting exit poll... ruling party “Let's go! Let's go!” ‘Dawn Victory!’ Excited Situation Room

The Party Leadership Shows Clear Signs of Excitement... Some Even Chant "jtbc"

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, candidate Lee Jae-myung announced a narrow lead according to the exit poll results, and Party Leader Song Young-gil, General Election Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon, and Standing Election Committee Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae expressed their joy. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, party officials including Representative Song Young-gil, General Election Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon, and Standing Election Committee Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae are rejoicing as candidate Lee Jae-myung announced a narrow lead in the exit poll results. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Koo Chae-eun and Kim Young-won] At 7:30 PM on the 9th, as the exit poll results from broadcasters for the 20th presidential election showed an unprecedentedly close race with conflicting outcomes, cheers of "Let's go! Let's go!" "We won't know until we try!" and "Wow!" erupted at the Democratic Party headquarters. Party leader Song Young-gil became teary-eyed when the JTBC result predicting Lee Jae-myung's victory by a 0.7 percentage point margin appeared on the screen.

At 7:25 PM, Leader Song Young-gil entered the vote counting situation room wearing a blue beanie. Since many opinion polls had predicted candidate Yoon's lead, his expression was heavy. To his left and right sat Lee Nak-yeon, the general election committee chairman, and Chu Mi-ae, honorary election committee chairwoman. Leader Song watched the screen with a firm, motionless face.

For about five minutes before the exit polls were announced, a tense silence filled the room. Leader Song clenched both fists on his knees and sat upright, staring intently at the screen. As the countdown 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 began and the results were announced, the vote counting room was filled with cheers and applause. Election committee officials, who had anticipated a close race but had not been confident, felt relieved as the extremely tight competition unfolded.

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Representative Song Young-gil is shedding tears as candidate Lee Jae-myung announces a narrow lead in the exit poll results. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is seen greeting attendees as he leaves the election situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building after viewing the exit poll results on the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The joint exit poll results from the three terrestrial broadcasters predicted candidate Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party at 48.4% and candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party at 47.8%, forecasting a 0.6 percentage point victory for Yoon. On the other hand, JTBC predicted candidate Lee at 48.4% and Yoon at 47.7%, expecting Lee Jae-myung to win by a 0.7 percentage point margin.

Although Yoon's victory was predicted, the extremely close margin of 0.6 percentage points (according to the three broadcasters' exit polls) and the prediction of Lee's victory (according to JTBC's own results) greatly energized the vote counting room. Upon confirming the results, Leader Song smiled brightly, clapped his hands, and clasped hands with Chairman Lee Nak-yeon sitting to his left, shaking them. Chairman Lee nodded and leaned in to converse with Leader Song. Leader Song also shook hands with Chairwoman Chu Mi-ae. Removing his mask and glasses, he wiped tears with a handkerchief. Lawmakers around Leader Song folded and unfolded their arms, chanting "Lee Jae-myung! Lee Jae-myung!" and the murmuring voices grew louder. Some lawmakers shouted "JTBC! JTBC!"

As the exit poll results from the three broadcasters were reported by region, the exclamations grew louder. When the result showed Lee's support rate at 24.0% in Daegu, a shout of "Wow!" was heard, followed by overwhelming predicted vote shares in Gwangju (83.3%), Jeonnam (83.7%), and Jeonbuk (82.6%), which drew applause. Reports that 20-year-old men chose candidate Yoon at 58.7% and candidate Lee at 36.3%, while 20-year-old women chose candidate Lee at 58.0% and candidate Yoon at 33.8%, prompted some lawmakers to shout "Let's go! Let's go!"

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, party leaders including Song Young-gil, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Lee Nak-yeon, the general election committee chairman, are watching the exit poll results at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, party leaders including Representative Song Young-gil and General Election Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon cheered as the exit poll results showed a narrow lead./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

At around 7:34 PM, Leader Song and Chairman Lee Nak-yeon left their seats for an interview. Lawmaker Choi Kang-wook, seated in the second row, held up his phone displaying "Victory at Dawn."

Kang Hoon-sik, head of the Strategic Planning Headquarters, said, "Today's exit poll results bring a sense of relief that they are at least within our predicted range," adding, "If early voting, which was higher than expected, accounted for about half of the total votes, then the probability of a 0.6 percentage point margin of error (in the exit polls) could change." Regarding the high support rate for candidate Lee among the younger generation, he said, "Women have been moving because of their fear of Yoon Seok-youl as president and Lee Jun-seok as party leader."

Leader Song and other Democratic Party election committee officials planned to stay in the situation room to monitor the vote counting. Candidate Lee Jae-myung was expected to wait at his home in Seongnam and visit the situation room around midnight once the election outcome became clear.

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, officials were busy moving around at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, at the Democratic Party's vote counting situation room set up in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, candidate Lee Jae-myung announced a narrow lead according to the exit poll results, and Party Leader Song Young-gil, General Election Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon, and Standing Election Committee Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae expressed their joy. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

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