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Early voting for the 20th presidential election started today (4th).

There were long lines at polling places across the country with people trying to cast their precious votes in advance.

Voter turnout on the first day was 17.57%.

This is the highest voter turnout ever on the first day since the nationwide advance voting began.



Correspondent Kim Min-jung.



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Early voting started at 6 am at 3,552 polling stations across the country.



[Oh Ji-eun / Dongjak-gu, Seoul: It feels good to vote in advance, rather than doing it on the same day.]



On the first day at 6 pm, the national turnout was 17.57%, with a total of 7.76 million voted.



Early voting nationwide has been held since the 2014 local elections, and this is the highest turnout ever for the first day.



This is 5.87%p higher than the early voting turnout on the first day of the 2017 19th presidential election and 5.43%p higher than the 2020 21st general election.



By region, the turnout was high in Honam, including Jeonbuk and Gwangju, followed by Jeonnam 28.1%, and Gyeonggi, Daegu, and Incheon were low.



The National Election Commission predicted that the early voting turnout will exceed 26.06% in the last presidential election as the fever of early voting continues tomorrow.



[Kang Ho-seong / Head of Media Support Team, National Election Commission: On the first day, the turnout increased by 45% compared to the last general election. If this trend continues tomorrow, it is expected to record an all-time high of 30% or more.]



President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook voted at the Samcheong-dong Community Service Center near the Blue House.



Democratic presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, who voted in Sogong-dong, Seoul, mentioned the candlelight vigil in Gwanghwamun five years ago and emphasized that he should vote for a political change. He expressed his regrets and appealed for a vote for regime change.



After the preliminary voting in Jongno, Seoul, presidential candidate Shim Sang-jung urged him to vote for him to defeat the established politics.



(Video coverage: Kim Nam-seong, Video editing: Park Seon-sun)



▶ Early voting booths lined up from the morning…

"Click" certification shots pouring


▶ Democratic and national power "high advance voter turnout, advantageous to us"