Local Election Voter Turnout at 6 PM Reaches Only 50%... Down 10.2%p from 4 Years Ago (Update)

On the 1st, the day of the 8th nationwide local elections, voters are casting their precious votes at the 7th polling station in Bukgajwa 2-dong, set up at Seoul Sangsa Taxi Meter in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] As of 6 PM on the 1st, the voter turnout for the 8th Nationwide Local Elections was recorded at 50.0%. This is 10.2 percentage points lower compared to the local elections held four years ago.

The National Election Commission announced the turnout rate as of 6 PM on this day. Voting began simultaneously at polling stations nationwide at 6 AM, with 22,156,629 out of 44,303,449 eligible voters participating.

This figure is 10.2 percentage points lower than the 60.2% turnout at the same time during the 7th local elections in 2018.

While voting for local elections has traditionally ended at 6 PM, this time, voting for COVID-19 confirmed patients will continue for an additional hour from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

According to the Election Commission, the number of confirmed patients eligible to vote is estimated to be around 80,000. Since this is not expected to significantly affect the overall turnout, the final turnout rate is anticipated to remain in the low 50% range.

The turnout rate announced after 7:30 PM today will be provisional, with the final turnout rate to be confirmed the following day, on the 2nd.

The region with the highest turnout so far is Jeonnam (57.8%), followed by Gangwon (57.1%), Jeju (52.6%), Gyeongnam (52.4%), and Seoul and Gyeongbuk (52.1%).

The lowest turnout was recorded in Gwangju at 36.9%, followed by Daegu (42.2%), Jeonbuk (47.9%), Incheon (48.0%), and Busan (48.1%).

From 6:30 PM today, voting for COVID-19 confirmed patients will continue for one hour. The time-based turnout rates officially announced by the National Election Commission are based on voting data collected from 250 city, county, and district election commissions.

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