Presidential Election Turnout at 73.9% as of 5 p.m., Up 0.3%p from Previous Election

As of 5:00 p.m. on June 3, the National Election Commission announced that the voter turnout for the 21st presidential election stood at a provisional 73.9%. This is the highest turnout recorded at this time of day in the history of presidential elections.

Voting is taking place at Beomeo 1-dong Polling Station No. 2, set up in the gymnasium of Daegu Girls' High School in Suseong District, Daegu, on the 3rd, the day of the 21st presidential election. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the National Election Commission, 32,805,621 out of a total of 44,391,871 eligible voters had cast their ballots.

This figure includes the early voting turnout of 15,423,607 people (34.74%) who participated on May 29 and 30, as well as the combined turnout from overseas voting, shipboard voting, and absentee voting.

As of 5:00 p.m., the turnout is 0.3 percentage points higher than the same time during the 20th presidential election in 2022 (73.6%), and 3.8 percentage points higher than the 19th presidential election in 2017 (70.1%).

By region, Jeonnam recorded the highest turnout at 80.7%, followed by Gwangju at 80.1%, Jeonbuk at 79.0%, and Sejong at 77.6%.

Both Jeonnam and Gwangju surpassed the 80% turnout mark for the first time. This appears to reflect the relatively high early voting rates in the Honam region (Jeonnam 56.50%, Jeonbuk 53.01%, Gwangju 52.12%).

Jeju had the lowest combined turnout at 70.1%, followed by Chungnam at 70.8%, and Busan and Chungbuk at 71.9%.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, turnout stood at 74.1% in Seoul, 73.9% in Gyeonggi, and 72.3% in Incheon.

With voter turnout continuing to exceed previous presidential elections at the same time of day since the afternoon, there is growing interest in whether the final turnout will surpass the 80% mark for the first time since the 15th presidential election in 1997.

Based on the current trend, it is expected that the final turnout will easily meet or exceed the rates of the 19th (77.2%) and 20th (77.1%) presidential elections.

An official from the National Election Commission predicted, "The final turnout for this presidential election is expected to be either similar to or slightly higher than the previous two elections, which included early voting."