The Tamesis
June 1, 2026
Seoul – South Korea’s rival political parties offered different explanations for record early turnout in local elections on June 3, with each side pushing the high turnout in their favor.
Rep. Kang Joon-hyun, a senior spokesman for the Democratic Party of Korea, thanked more than 10 million voters at a news conference on Sunday for going to the polls in the first two days of early voting.
“I am deeply grateful to citizens for participating in early voting,” Kang said, urging those who have not yet exercised their right to vote to do so on Election Day, likening voting to the “lifeline” of South Korea’s democracy.
Four-term Democratic Rep. Seo Young-kyo said the high turnout in early voting showed “people’s strong desire for the success of Lee Jae-myung’s administration.”
However, main opposition People’s Power Party lawmaker Loh Keng Yuen said via Facebook on Sunday that the high turnout marked a “stern warning to the liberal bloc’s arrogant behavior of disregarding the law and principles”.
Separately, at a news conference in Yeouido, Seoul on Sunday, People Power Party Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk warned that the increase in early voting did not necessarily indicate that a particular party would benefit.
“In local elections… we have to look at which areas have higher early voting rates… and which age groups have higher early voting rates,” Zhang said. “It’s still difficult to determine which party benefits… from the fact that early voter turnout was higher than the last (local) election.”
Election authorities estimated on Saturday that turnout during early voting from Friday to Saturday had reached 23.51%, the highest turnout since South Korea introduced early voting for local elections in 2014. That means more than 10 million people have already voted, with the government estimating that 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in this year’s election.
Early voting rates for local elections have gradually increased since its introduction, with this year’s turnout being 2.89 percentage points higher than the last local election held in 2022.
In this election, the turnout in liberal strongholds in the southwestern region was higher, with 38.95% in South Jeolla Province, 35.05% in North Jeolla Province, and 27.83% in Gwangju. By contrast, turnout was lower in conservative strongholds in southeastern regions such as Daegu and Busan.
But the figure is lower than South Korea’s last two major elections. The early voting rate for the 2024 congressional election is 31.28%, and the early voting rate for the 2025 presidential election is 34.74%.
Both major parties were successful, with high early voter turnout.
In the 2018 local elections, the Liberal Party achieved an overwhelming victory. The early voting rate nearly doubled compared with the previous local election. It was also the second-highest total turnout in local elections in South Korea since 1995. The 1995 and 2018 elections were the only local elections in which total turnout exceeded 60%.
Early voter turnout in the 2022 local elections was similar to the 2018 election, but overall turnout was lower and the Conservatives won.
Against this background, President Lee called on voters to participate through a series of posts on X tomorrow weekend, saying that not voting will allow those who abuse power to come back.
Lee said on his X account Saturday night that whether “evil rulers” are elected to public office depends on people choosing to exercise their sovereign right to vote.
Citing Greek philosopher Plato’s comments about the price people pay for being indifferent to public affairs, Lee said voter apathy will keep people “under the control of the most terrible leaders.”
“The power of voting is more powerful than you think,” Lee wrote. “Whether those elected become loyal servants of an abundant life or become evil rulers who destroy the world and bring misery to their people depends on the hands of the sovereign people.”
Earlier on Saturday, Lee wrote that abstaining from voting amounted to “siding with those who harm your life and your community.”
Regarding the president’s comments about X, Rep. Chang retorted that Lee himself is an example of the “evil ruler” he cited.
“If we abandon the vote, we will give Lee Myung-bak, the man who abused his presidential power and canceled his criminal trial for personal gain, a chance to erase all his crimes,” Jang said.
