South Korea voted for a new president on Tuesday, with exit polls showing liberal Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party (DP) set to ride a wave of unease about the economy and political instability to a victory expected to have ramifications for Seoul’s relations with Tokyo.
Lee, the front-runner in the race since campaigning began May 12, secured 51.7% of the vote — a 12.4 percentage point lead on his closest competitor, conservative rival Kim Moon-soo of the governing People Power Party (PPP), who garnered 39.3% of the vote, according to exit poll data jointly compiled and released major broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS after voting wrapped up at 8 p.m. Another right-leaning candidate, the Reform Party’s Lee Jun-seok, received 7.7% support.
South Korea’s National Election Commission said that 79.4% of the country’s 44.39 million eligible voters had cast their ballots in the vote. The electoral commission is scheduled to certify the result on Wednesday and the new president’s inauguration is expected within hours.
