Early Voting Turnout Reaches 8.15% as of 3 p.m. on First Day... Up 0.9% from Four Years Ago

3.64 Million Voters Participate

Honam Region Sees Higher Turnout Than Previous Local Elections

All Regions Except Gyeongbuk Record Higher Turnout Than Four Years Ago

On the first day of the 9th nationwide local elections, the early voting rate as of 3 p.m. stood at 8.15%.

According to the National Election Commission, out of a total of 44,649,908 eligible voters, 3,640,057 participated in the early voting that began at 6 a.m. on May 29. This figure is 0.90 percentage points higher than the early voting rate of 7.25% recorded during the same period in the 8th local elections four years ago. While it is lower than the 3 p.m. early voting rates for the 21st presidential election last year (14.05%) and the 22nd general elections in 2024 (11.12%), the gap widens further when comparing only local elections.

On the first day of early voting for the 9th nationwide local elections on the 29th, citizens are lining up and waiting for their turn to vote at the polling station set up at the Buksejong Integrated Administrative Welfare Center in Sejong City. Photo by Yonhap News

By region, Jeonnam recorded the highest early voting rate at 16.66%, followed by Jeonbuk at 14.16%, Gangwon at 10.42%, and Gwangju at 10.00%. In contrast, Daegu had the lowest rate at 6.35%. Gyeonggi recorded 6.74%, Incheon 7.02%, and Busan 7.47%. Seoul was at 7.66%.

Compared to four years ago, the Honam region showed relatively high voting rates. Jeonbuk saw the largest increase, up 4.32 percentage points compared to the 8th elections. Gwangju (up 3.91 percentage points) and Jeonnam, which is undergoing administrative integration in this election (up 3.61 percentage points), also posted significantly higher rates than in the previous election. In the Yeongnam region, Daegu (up 1.39 percentage points), Gyeongnam (up 1.00 percentage point), and Busan (up 0.83 percentage points) all recorded higher rates than four years ago. However, Gyeongbuk posted 8.59%, a decline of 0.47 percentage points, making it the only region nationwide to fall below its level from four years earlier.

Early voting will take place over two days, from May 29 to May 30, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 3,571 polling stations nationwide. The final early voting rate for the 8th local elections was 20.62%, while the 22nd general elections recorded 31.28%, and the 21st presidential election recorded 34.74%.

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