Seoul, June 3 (IANS) Vote counting began for South Korea’s presidential election, officials said on Tuesday, as exit polls projected Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung to win the presidency, with the winner likely to emerge around midnight.
Counting kicked off at around 8.35 p.m. (local time) in ballot counting stations in North Gyeongsang Province, according to the National Election Commission.
The tallying process also began at 254 ballot counting stations across the country from 8.30 to 8.40 p.m., it said.
The winner is expected to emerge around midnight, when 70 to 80 per cent of the votes are expected to be tallied. The vote count will continue till Wednesday morning, Yonhap news agency reported.
According to four polls, Lee Jae-myung will garner around 50 per cent of the vote, leading People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo by at least 7.5 percentage points.
A JTBC poll projected that Lee will garner 50.6 per cent of the vote against Kim’s 39.4 per cent, while a Channel A poll showed Lee leading Kim 51.1 per cent to 38.9 per cent.
An MBN poll projected that Lee will win 49.2 per cent of the vote against Kim’s 41.7 per cent, while a joint exit poll by KBS, MBC, and SBS showed Lee leading Kim 51.7 per cent to 39.3 per cent.
Lee Jun-seok, the candidate of the New Reform Party, was projected to win 7.9 per cent, 8.7 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 7.7 per cent in the JTBC, Channel A, MBN, and KBS-MBC-SBS polls, respectively.
The JTBC poll had a margin of error of 0.9 percentage points while the Channel A poll had a margin of error of 0.93 percentage points, both at the 95 per cent confidence level.
The KBS-MBC-SBS exit poll’s margin of error was 0.8 percentage points at the 95 per cent confidence level.
DP campaign officials and leaders who were gathered in a situation room at the National Assembly erupted in applause and cheers when the exit poll results were announced.
“I believe the sovereign people have passed a severe judgment on the insurrection regime,” Rep. Park Chan-dae, the DP election committee leader, told KBS.
“These are exit polls, so they are projections, but we will remain alert until our election is certain and look at what the people’s judgment is, what the people’s decision is.”
Voter turnout for South Korea’s presidential election had surpassed the 70 per cent mark as of 4 p.m.
Of the total 44.39 million eligible voters nationwide, 31.73 million, or 71.5 per cent, had cast their ballots as of 4 p.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC). Voting began at 6 a.m. at 14,295 polling stations across the country and concluded at 8 p.m.
The provisional tally includes the votes cast in early voting, as well as overseas, shipboard and absentee ballots.
The turnout was the highest recorded at the said time of day in any presidential election.
More than 15.42 million, or 34.74 per cent of the registered voters, had cast their ballots in the early voting held on Thursday and Friday.
–IANS
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