South Korea's National Assembly election enters official voting day

South Korean voters cast their ballots for the National Assembly at a polling station in Seoul on April 10, 2024.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), the voting will last until 6:00 p.m. the same day at 14,259 polling stations nationwide. According to current regulations, a total of 300 National Assembly seats will be elected, including 254 seats elected directly and 46 seats elected by proportional representation of political parties.

The interest of South Korean voters in this 22nd National Assembly election is very high, as shown by the record 31.28% early voting rate in the April 5 and 6 voting period. Thus, on the official voting day today, there will be only about 30 million eligible voters. The record high early voting rate also attracts attention to whether the final voter turnout will exceed 70%. The voter turnout in the 2020 general election was 66.2%. Political analysts say that the 48 constituencies in Seoul are the main battleground that will decide the election results. Statistics show that the vote count in Seoul often reflects the overall election results.

South Korean voters cast their ballots for the National Assembly at a polling station in Seoul on April 10, 2024.

South Korea's two largest political parties, the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which currently holds a majority in the National Assembly, have both called on voters to actively participate in voting. The PPP has called for voter support, saying that the government of incumbent President Yoon Suk-yeol has been unable to push through its reform agenda over the past two years due to the opposition's non-cooperation in the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the opposition DP has called on voters to vote to deliver a "stern judgment" on allegations that the current government has caused serious hardship to the economy and people's livelihoods and mishandled a series of issues over the past two years.