Seoul, April 6: Turn out for the parliamentary elections in South Korea topped 10 million during the second and final day of early voting on Saturday.
According to the National Election Commission (NEC), 10,365,722 out of 44,280,011 eligible voters had cast their ballots as of 1 p.m. Saturday, for a turn out rate of 23.41 per cent, Yonhap news agency reported.
At the same point for the previous parliamentary elections in 2020, the turn out was 19.08 per cent.
Voters will have until 6 p.m. Saturday to cast their ballots at 3,565 polling stations. Those missing the opportunity this weekend will have to vote on Election Day on Wednesday.
On Friday, about 6.9 million voters, or 15.61 percent, went to the polls, a record for the first day of early voting for parliamentary elections.
South Korea introduced the early voting system in 2014.
On the first day of early voting, turn out exceeded 10 percent in all 17 major cities and provinces nation wide, led by South Jeolla Province with 23.6 percent. The turn out in Seoul was 15.83 percent.
South Jeolla continued to lead the way Saturday with 32.96 per cent. The south-eastern city of Daegu brought up the rear at 18.79 percent.
The quadrennial race is considered crucial for the ruling People Power Party as failure to regain a majority could potentially render President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for the remaining three years of his single five year term.
The main opposition Democratic Party, which enjoyed a landslide victory in the previous elections, aims to retain its parliamentary majority.
According to a survey conducted jointly by Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV earlier this week, 80 percent of respondents expressed a definite intention to cast their votes.
Among those intending to vote, 39 percent planned to visit polling stations during the early voting period, while 58 percent intended to vote on Election Day.
