S. Koreans rush to early voting for martial law-triggered presidential election

30/5/2025 14:54

South Koreans rushed to an early voting for a snap presidential election, triggered by a botched martial law bid that boosted desire for transfer of power.



Voter turnout hit a record high of 19.58 percent on the first day of the two-day early voting on Thursday, surpassing the previous high of 17.57 percent in the 2022 presidential election.



Without changes in trend, the final turnout of the early voting was expected to top the record high of 36.93 percent tallied in 2022.



Flocking to vote indicated people's aspiration for the transfer of power as it took a whopping six months to punish the short-lived martial law imposition through the presidential by-election on June 3.



Former conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol declared an emergency martial law on the night of Dec. 3 last year, but it was revoked by the National Assembly hours later.



Yoon was apprehended in the presidential office and indicted under detention as a suspected ringleader of insurrection in January, but he was released in March before being permanently removed from office by the constitutional court on April 4.