More than 12 million voters cast ballots in South Korea in preparation for the nation’s upcoming presidential election, breaking a record for early voting.
More than a quarter of South Korea’s 44.3 million eligible voters are now voting early, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which is the figure that was at midday on Friday.
Before the official vote on Tuesday, in which case South Koreans will choose Yoon Sook-yeol will be replaced, early voting began on Thursday and will end on Friday.
In December, Yoon temporarily declared martial law in South Korea before the National Assembly overturned the controversial decision.
The former president claimed that anti-state and North Korean forces had influenced the government’s infiltration, leading to his decree declaring martial law and ordering the arrest of opposition politicians.
Yoon was impeached the same month, but he didn’t take office until April when the constitutional court of South Korea approved the impeachment vote.
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s front-runner, received 42.9 percent of votes in the final poll before the election, according to Yonhap, Kim Moon-soo from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, who received 36.8 percent.
Lee Jun-seok, a conservative candidate for the New Reform Party, who had only 10.3% of the vote, was a distant third place behind the candidates.
According to David Lee, a journalist from Seoul, electorate turnout has been highest in regions of South Korea with the Democratic Party, while turnout has been lowest in conservative districts like Gyeongsang Province.
He told Al Jazeera, “The Democratic Camp has much higher morale now, especially after the historic impeachment trial.” On the other hand, PPP supporters are navigating murkier waters.
A divided public has mobilized both for and against the impeached Yoon in South Korea, where the vote is expected to end months of political unrest.
According to Lee, early voting provisions have also contributed to the election period’s prevalence of fraud conspiracy theories.
According to Yonhap, South Korean police reported an increase in the vandalism of campaign materials and reported that they had arrested at least 690 people over the course of a related incident this week.
Following threats to his life, frontrunner Lee admitted to wearing a bulletproof vest and installing bulletproof glass at campaign rallies.
Additionally, according to police, they reported 11 instances of threats to Lee and one to the candidate of the New Reform Party on social media this week.
Source: Aljazeera
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