Voter turnout hits 32-year high for general election

General election 2024

Published: 10 Apr. 2024, 21:47

Voter turnout hits 32-year high for general election

Election staffers sort ballots at a counting station set up at a high school in Yongsan District, central Seoul, to tally votes for Korea’s parliamentary elections on Wednesday evening. [NEWS1]

Korea posted its highest voter turnout for parliamentary elections in 32 years on Wednesday, with 67 percent of the country’s electorate voting for the April 10 general election.

A total of 29,662,313 voters participated in the election to decide the 300 members of the 22nd National Assembly.

The April 10 general election's voter turnout [NATIONAL ELECTION COMMISSION]

The nationwide final turnout reached 67.0 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous 2020 general election, according to the National Election Commission (NEC) on Wednesday.

The early voting turnout was 31.28 percent, with 13,849,043 voters casting their ballots last Friday and Saturday. The remaining 15.8 million voters cast their ballots on Wednesday, the day reserved for the election.

Seoul, the nation’s capital, had a turnout of 69.3 percent and ranked second. Of the city’s eligible 8,310,021 voters, 5,758,952 voted.

Gyeonggi, the province surrounding Seoul with the largest voting-eligible population, had a voter turnout of 66.7 percent.

Of its 11,595,385 eligible voters, 7,732,236 cast their ballots to elect 60 lawmakers representing their electoral districts. Specifically, around 3.4 million were early voters, and 4.3 million took part in the election on Wednesday.

Sejong, a city in Korea’s central area with dozens of ministries and public institutions, was the sole region where the turnout surpassed 70 percent. Of its 301,297 eligible voters, 211,405 participated in the general election.

With the exception of Sejong, turnouts in the Chungcheong area — a notable swing region — fell a bit below the national average. South Chungcheong saw a turnout of 65 percent, while its northern counterpart posted a turnout of 65.2 percent. Daejeon’s turnout was 66.3 percent.

The April 10 general election's voter turnout by region [NATIONAL ELECTION COMMISSION]

Voter engagement in the Jeolla region, a liberal stronghold, was relatively robust.

South Jeolla’s voter turnout was 69.0 percent, and that of North Jeolla was 67.4 percent. Gwangju — encircled by South Jeolla — saw a turnout of 68.2 percent.

Turnouts in the traditionally conservative Daegu and North Gyeongsang regions were slightly lower than the nationwide average.

Daegu saw the country’s second-lowest turnout at 64.0 percent, with 1,312,872 participating voters. In North Gyeongsang, 1,447,839 voters cast their ballots for a turnout of 65.1 percent.

The Nakdong River belt—comprising battlefield electoral districts in Busan and South Gyeongsang — saw a mediocre turnout. South Gyeongsang’s turnout was 67.6 percent, and Busan's was 67.5 percent.

Jeju posted the country’s lowest turnout at 62.2 percent. Of its 566,611 registered voters, only 352,541 cast ballots.

Incheon’s turnout was 65.3 percent. A total of 1,686,974 voters cast their ballots to elect 14 lawmakers representing regional constituencies.

The southern industrial city of Ulsan saw a turnout of 66.9 percent with 625,088 voters.

In Gangwon, some 887,434 exercised their voting rights for a turnout of 66.6 percent.

The turnout increased most steeply at 1 p.m. on Wednesday when the early votes were reflected in the count.

As of 12 p.m. the same day, the country's turnout was 18.5 percent, which excluded the ballots cast during the early voting period. After the early votes were added, the turnout exceeded 53 percent by 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The country has seen a continuous rise in general election turnout. After recording 46.1 percent in the 2008 parliamentary election, which formed the 18th National Assembly, the 2012 election’s turnout increased by 8.1 percentage points. In the 2016 election, the nationwide turnout reached 58 percent, and the previous election in 2020 posted a turnout of 66.2 percent.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]