51.9% turnout of the Mayor of Seoul at 6:00 pm 50% of the total vote'under the chin'

The Central Election Commission said today (7th) that the turnout for re-and-by-election elections in 21 places nationwide, including the mayors of Seoul and Busan, is 49.5% as of 6 pm.

From the start of voting at 6 a.m. to the present, 601,4,791 have voted out of the total of 1,216,624 voters.

This is the sum of the pre-voting (20.5% voting rate) held on the last 2-3 days.

Considering the time remaining until the voting deadline (8:00 p.m.), the overall turnout is likely to exceed the mid-50% range and approach the 60% line.

At this time, the turnout rate is 16.7 percentage points and 10.7 percentage points lower than that of the 21st general elections in April last year (66.2%) and the local elections in 2018 (60.2%).

However, since these national elections are held on public holidays and the deadline for voting (6 p.m.) is different, it is difficult to compare with this re-election.

It is on the high side for re-election criteria.

The turnout at this time is 7.1 percentage points higher than the same time turnout (42.4%) of the April 3 re-election in 2019.

By region, 4.37 million people participated in the Seoul Mayor's election, recording a 51.9% turnout.

At this time, the turnout in Seoul is 16.2 percentage points and 8.0 percentage points lower than that of the 2020 general election (68.1%) and the 2018 local election (59.9%), respectively.

In terms of distinction, so-called'Gangnam 3 districts' such as Seocho (57.2%), Gangnam (54.6%), and Songpa (54.4%) maintain the 1st to 3rd place in turnout.

This was followed by Yangcheon (54.0%), Jongno (53.8%), and Nowon (53.7%).

Geumcheon (46.2%) had the lowest turnout.

Jungrang (47.9%) and Gwanak (48.0%) also showed less than 50% turnout.

The number of voters for the Busan mayoral election was 1.38 million, with a turnout of 46.9%.

It is estimated to be 20.8 percentage points lower than the Busan turnout rate (67.7%) in the last year's general election, and 11.9 percentage points lower than the Busan turnout rate (58.8%) in the 2018 local election.

The voter turnout for the by-election of the heads of basic organizations such as the head of Nam-gu in Ulsan and the head of Uiryeong-gun in Gyeongnam was 35.1% and 65.7%, respectively.

(Photo = Yonhap News)