SEOUL, March 9 (BNA) South Koreans headed to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new president who will shape Asia’s fourth-largest economy riven by gender and generational divisions, face confrontation with North Korea, and steer the country’s rise. position in the world.
The campaign has been marked by surprises, scandals and slander, but the political stakes are high for the country’s 52 million residents, and whoever elects to be president for the next five years, Reuters reported.
The winner will face mounting challenges including dealing with the effects of the worst wave of COVID-19 infections in South Korea, deepening inequality and soaring home prices, and bypassing the increasingly tense rivalry between China and the United States.
Voters are searching for a leader who can root out corruption and start negotiations to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The competition is shaping up as a two-way race between Lee Jae-myung, the standard-bearer of the ruling Democratic Party, and Yoon Seok-yeol, of the main opposition People’s Power Party.
They are vying to succeed incumbent President Moon Jae-in, who is constitutionally prohibited from seeking re-election.
The victory of the conservative opposition may mark a marked turn for the party that was in disarray after the last elections in 2017, which were held early after the impeachment and removal of President Park Geun-hye.
Meanwhile, Moon’s Liberal Democratic Party is fighting to protect and pursue its agenda, fending off Yoon’s threats to investigate the outgoing president’s administration over corruption if he is elected.
Moon does not face any specific allegations of wrongdoing, but his administration has faced several major corruption scandals among high-ranking officials.
Polls last week showed Yun slightly outperforming, who got a surprise last-minute boost when fellow conservative who scores third pulled away and threw his support at Yun.
In the absence of polls over the past six days, Yoon’s camp said on Monday it expected to win by a 10% margin, while Lee’s team predicted it would top the list with 1-2%.
Electoral authorities said more than 61 percent of the nearly 44 million eligible voters across the country had cast their ballots by 1 pm on Wednesday. That number includes a record turnout for early voting, which began on Friday.
Swinging voters
Yoon, the former attorney general, has vowed to fight corruption, advance justice and create a more equal playing field, while seeking a tougher stance on North Korea and a “reset” of relations with China.
Lee was the governor of the most populous Gyeonggi Province, known for his aggressive responses to the coronavirus and his advocacy of universal basic income.
Both candidates’ unpopular ratings matched, as scandals, mudslide campaigns and gaffes dominated the so-called “junk elections”.
Young voters who supported Moon but were disillusioned with economic woes and corruption scandals are seen as a major bloc.
Lee Seung Jin, 33, said he had heard that turnout among people in their 20s and 30s would be important.
“Since the current problems of young people with regard to employment and housing prices are serious, I voted for a candidate who pledged to come up with solutions,” he said, without specifying whom he voted for.
Vote on COVID-19
South Korea reported a record daily record of 342,446 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but the increase was not reported as an election issue, after some controversy over how to compensate citizens and businesses.
With more than a million Covid patients treating themselves at home, electoral authorities tightened voting procedures on Monday amid an uproar over early voting irregularities.
During Saturday’s special early voting for infected voters, some election workers collected ballot papers in shopping bags or plastic buckets to put in ballot boxes.
Officials said there was no evidence of tampering.