Election workers sort ballots at a vote-counting center set up in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Wednesday during South Korea’s ninth nationwide local elections. (Yonhap) South Korea’s voter turnout in Wednesday’s local elections was provisionally tallied at 61 percent, marking the second-highest turnout in the country’s local election history, according to the National Election Commission.The NEC said around 27.25 million out of around 44.65 million eligible voters cast ballots in the elections held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. nationwide.The figure includes ballots cast during the two-day early voting period held May 29-30, which recorded a turnout of 23.51 percent, as well as absentee and residential voting.The turnout was 10.1 percentage points higher than the 50.9 percent recorded in the eighth local elections in 2022, and was the second-highest among the nine local elections held so far, after the record 68.4 percent logged in the first local elections in 1995.South Jeolla Province recorded the highest turnout at 65.7 percent, followed by Gangwon Province at 64.5 percent, South Gyeongsang Province at 64.4 percent and both Daegu and Ulsan at 64.2 percent.In contrast, Gwangju, which is set to merge with South Jeolla Province into a special self-governing city starting July 1, posted the lowest turnout at 54.3 percent, followed by Jeju at 56.4 percent, Incheon at 58.2 percent and Gyeonggi Province at 58.4 percent.Seoul recorded a turnout of 63.6 percent, above the national average.The final turnout tally, however, is expected to take longer to complete after ballot shortages at 14 polling stations in Seoul’s Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu and Gwangjin-gu delayed the close of voting in some areas, according to the NEC.Meanwhile, voter turnout in 14 National Assembly by-elections was provisionally tallied at 60.9 percent, with around 1.38 million out of around 2.27 million eligible voters casting ballots.Voter turnout in Busan’s Buk-A district and Pyeongtaek-B district — two of the most closely watched battlegrounds — was recorded at 70.6 percent and 54.7 percent, respectively.