Early voting for presidential election begins in S Korea

10:34, 4 May 2017

SEOUL. KAZINFORM Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans cast their ballots Thursday in advance voting for the presidential election set to be held next week, the election watchdog said.

Over 1 million voters have voted as of 10:30 a.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC), with many more expected to follow before the two-day voting period ends at 6 p.m. Friday. There is a 12-hour overnight break starting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Among early voters were National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and key officials from all major political parties here.

It marked the first early voting for a presidential election as the system was introduced in 2014 as a way of boosting voter turnout.

Unlike absentee voting that only allows those likely to be absent on election day to vote in advance, early voting allows any eligible voter to do so regardless of reason.