South Korean presidential poll closes with choice of young, swing voters likely to prove decisive

Voters braved a surge in Omicron cases with a high turnout of 65 per cent recorded by 2pm; top domestic concerns include unemployment and inequality

Sleaze and scandal have marred the poll, which has been billed as a two-horse race between the Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung and the People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol

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South Korean election officials wearing protective gear guide voters infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus at a polling station for the March 9 presidential election. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:00am, 9 Mar 2022Updated: 7:19pm, 9 Mar 2022

Polls closed in South Korea on Wednesday evening, after a large turnout of voters cast their ballot in an election likely to have deep ramifications for the US-China competition and efforts to rein in Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambitions.

Whoever wins what has been billed as a race between Lee Jae-myung, of the liberal governing Democratic Party, and Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative opposition People Power Party, will face a plethora of domestic issues once in office, not least among them skyrocketing house prices and unemployment.

But it is the two front runners’ starkly opposed positions on how to engage the nuclear-armed North Korea and navigate the increasingly acrimonious relationship of the United States and China that has really captured the attention of observers overseas.

The ruling Democratic Party’s situation room in Seoul’s National Assembly, where party members will watch ballot counting for the presidential election. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

Voters wearing masks queued up at polling stations across the country on Wednesday to cast their ballots, despite a spike in Omicron cases that saw the country report a record daily high of 342,446 infections.

Once inside the stations, voters must present their IDs and in return receive a strip of paper with the names of the 14 candidates on it, including those of two participants who withdrew only after the ballots were printed. Voters then enter a curtained-off booth to mark their ballot.

The stations opened at 6am local time and are officially scheduled to close at 6pm but those who have been infected with the virus have been asked to cast their ballots between 6pm and 7.30pm.

The People Power Party’s situation room, where party members will watch ballot counting for the presidential election. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

Results of exit polls will be announced at 7.30pm though observers caution that the results of these may be unreliable because the race is too tight to call before the official tally is completed.