[VOTE] S. Koreans cast ballots to pick new president after prolonged power vacuum

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 9, 2017, 11:33 Updated : May 9, 2017, 19:26

[Yonhap Photo]


South Koreans cast ballots Tuesday in their painstaking march to set up a new democratic order and end a protracted leadership vacuum and political turmoil triggered by a corruption scandal that led to the shameful downfall of an impeached ex-president.

Voting proceeded peacefully at 13,964 polling stations to pick the successor of ex-president Park Geun-hye who is on trial on multiple charges including bribery. She allegedly abused her power and conspired with her crony, Choi Soon-sil, to extort money from Samsung and other top conglomerates in return for business favors.

Park, who took office in early 2013, was impeached on December 9 at the height of anti-government protests that have seen millions of citizens taking to the streets in an unprecedented demonstration of people power. She was ousted after the constitutional court upheld her impeachment on March 10, accusing her of betraying the confidence of voters.

It's South Korea's first presidential by-election, and the winner will be inaugurated quickly if the National Election Commission, a state watchdog, officially confirms victory.

Turnout was relatively high at 75.1 percent as of 7 pm (1000 GMT), one hour before the close of voting. The final rate in the last presidential election in 2012 was 75.8 percent. Of 42.48 million eligible voters, 11.07 million, or 26.06 percent, already cast ballots last week in two-day advance voting. The early voting system was introduced in 2014 to boost turnout.

Tuesday's election comes at the height of widespread public aspirations to end deep-rooted collusion between politicians and businessmen that actually began with South Korea's rapid economic growth and industrialization under the rule of Park's father, Park Chung-hee, who seized power through a coup in 1961.

Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer from the main opposition Democratic Party, has been an outright leader in opinion polls, well ahead of Ahn Cheol-soo, the former software mogul from the People's Party, a splinter opposition group, and other candidates.

Initially, Ahn was a viable challenger to Moon, capitalizing on unexpected support from conservative voters in Park's regional stronghold, but his support shrank due to his poor showing in a series of TV debates. Voters were interested in security, welfare, jobs and economic justice, but most candidates failed to show sincere discussions on policy.

In the final opinion poll published last week, Moon garnered more than 40 percent while Ahn was at a distance second with less than 20 percent, vying with Hong Joon-pyo, a conservative candidate from the former ruling Liberty Korea Party.

Moon, who lost to Park in the previous election, is leading in Seoul and the adjacent area which together has more than one-fourth of the population. He is also popular among young voters.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com


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