Early Voting Day 1 for General Election, Turnout at 15.61%... Up 3.47%p from Last General Election

On the first day, 6,910,510 out of 44,280,011 people voted
Jeonnam leads with 23.67%, Daegu lowest at 12.26%

On the first day of early voting for the 22nd general election, voters are lining up to cast their early votes at the Euljiro-dong Community Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, which is recording an unprecedented turnout rate on the 5th. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

On the first day of early voting for the 22nd general election, the final early voting rate was 15.61% on the 5th.

According to the National Election Commission, by the closing time of polling stations at 6 p.m. that day, 6,915,100 out of 44,280,110 eligible voters nationwide participated in early voting.

This early voting rate is higher than that of the previous general election. The early voting rate at the same time on the first day of the 21st general election was 12.14%.

Compared to the record-high early voting rate in the 20th presidential election, the early voting rate was high in the beginning but somewhat declined after 10 a.m. Although it did not reach the highest early voting rate ever recorded in the last presidential election (17.57%), it was the highest first-day early voting rate among all general elections.

By region, Jeonnam had the highest rate at 23.67%. It was followed by Jeonbuk at 21.36%, Gwangju at 19.96%, and Gangwon at 17.69%. The Chungcheong region, including Sejong (16.99%), Chungbuk (15.69%), and Chungnam (15.70%), also showed higher voting rates than the national average.

In the metropolitan area, Seoul (15.83%), Incheon (14.50%), and Gyeonggi (14.03%), the voting rate was below the national average except for Seoul.

The lowest rate was recorded in Daegu at 12.26%, which was lower than Busan (14.83%), Ulsan (14.80%), and Daejeon (14.66%).

Other regions showed low early voting rates in the order of Gyeongbuk at 16.24%, Gyeongnam at 15.27%, and Jeju at 15.10%.

So far, the election committees of both ruling and opposition parties have been encouraging early voting through support campaigns. Both sides interpret the results as their respective support bases consolidating, claiming to have gained advantageous positions.

In the political sphere, there are predictions that the total early voting rate combining the first and second days will approach 30%. The final early voting rate for the 21st general election was 26.69%.

Meanwhile, the early voting that started on this day will continue for two days until the 6th at 3,565 polling stations nationwide. Early voting is possible anywhere in the country from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. regardless of the voter's address, provided they have an ID with a photo such as a resident registration card, driver's license, or an ID issued by a government or public institution.