Voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting for nationwide local elections at a polling station in the Eulji Nuri Center in Seoul on Friday. Photo by Yonhap
Many South Koreans headed to the polls Friday in early voting for next week's local elections and parliamentary by-elections, widely seen as a referendum on President Lee Jae Myung's first year in office.
Eligible voters can cast ballots at 3,571 polling stations nationwide from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Saturday, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).
As of 11 a.m., turnout for the local elections came to 3.81 percent, according to the NEC. The rate was higher than the 3.59 percent recorded at the same time on the first day of early voting for the 2022 local elections.
More than 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in this year's local elections.
