4.7 By-election Voter Turnout at 6.2% by 9 AM... 1.5%p Lower Than Last Local Election

On the 7th, when the April 7 by-elections were held, citizens exercised their precious votes at the 3rd polling station in Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The National Election Commission announced on the 7th that the voter turnout for the April 7 by-elections and re-elections was 6.2% as of 9 a.m.

Among the total 12,161,624 eligible voters, 759,690 participated in the voting that began at 6 a.m. that day.

The voter turnout on this day was 1.8 percentage points lower than the 8% turnout during last year's 21st general election. It was also 1.5 percentage points lower than the 7.7% turnout during the 2018 local elections. The voter turnout for the highly watched Seoul mayoral and Busan mayoral elections was recorded at 6.6% and 5.7%, respectively. In Seoul, 559,342 voters cast their ballots, while in Busan, 168,257 voters participated.

The current turnout does not include the early voting rate of 20.54% conducted over 2-3 days. Early voting will be officially combined with the turnout along with absentee voting at 1 p.m.

The by-elections and re-elections held on this weekday allow voting from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.