South Korea to elect new president
Baku, March 9, AZETAC
South Koreans will elect a new president on Wednesday, even as the country is reporting a huge number of COVID-19 infections every day since last month, according to Anadolu Agency.
A tough contest is expected between ruling Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and main opposition People’s Power Party (PPP) candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, with both holding major public gatherings Sunday in the capital Seoul.
The official election campaign, which started on Feb. 15, will come to an end on Tuesday.
Opinion polls conducted last week showed a neck-to-neck race between two main candidates receiving 40% support each while 10% supported nominees from the small parties, including the People’s Party and the Justice Party, major South Korean New Agency Yonhap reported.
According to the National Election Commission (NEC), 44 million voters will elect a new president. Out of them, 16.3 million have already cast their votes on Friday and Saturday.
President Moon Jae-in and leading candidates Yoon and Lee cast their votes on Friday.
Some 161,878 overseas voters also cast their votes at 177 missions across the world from Feb. 23-28, said the NEC.
The country's election authorities hope the majority of eligible voters will take part in the voting on Wednesday.
