▲ Travelers cast early votes at a polling station inside the departure lobby of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on May 29, 2026, ahead of the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap)
▲ President Lee Jae Myung (L) and first lady Kim Hea Kyung cast their early votes at a community center near Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 29, 2026, ahead of the June 3 local elections. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
▲ A voter casts an early vote at a polling station in the city of Jeju on the southern Jeju Island on May 29, 2026, ahead of the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap)
▲ A voter casts an early vote with his child at a polling station in the southeastern city of Daegu on May 29, 2026, ahead of the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) local elections-early voting

(2nd LD) S. Korea kicks off 2-day early voting for June 3 local elections

(ATTN: UPDATES paras 3-5; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- Many South Koreans headed to the polls Friday in early voting for next week's local elections and parliamentary by-elections, widely seen as a referendum on President Lee Jae Myung's first year in office.

Eligible voters can cast ballots at 3,571 polling stations nationwide from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Saturday, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).

Voter turnout for the local elections came to 8.15 percent as of 3 p.m., according to the NEC, slightly above the 7.25 percent recorded at the same time on the first day of early voting for the 2022 local elections.

Many political leaders, including President Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung, were among those who cast their ballots early.

The first couple cast their votes at a community center near Cheong Wa Dae, while Prime Minister Kim Min-seok voted early at a polling station in western Seoul and urged people to vote.

More than 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in this year's local elections.

Up for grabs are 16 mayoral and gubernatorial posts, along with 227 heads of local governments and some 4,000 members of local councils.

Eyes are also on the parliamentary by-elections that will fill 14 vacant Assembly seats, with political heavyweights, such as Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), vying for seats.

In a poll released by the NEC last Thursday, 73.6 percent of respondents said they will definitely vote in the upcoming elections. Of them, 39.4 percent said they intended to cast ballots during the early voting period.

The upcoming elections are widely viewed as the first major nationwide vote for the Lee administration since it took office last June after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted over his failed martial law bid.

Both the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the PPP have been rallying voters to hit the polls this week, with the former urging the public to make a stern judgment on what it calls the "remnants" of Yoon's insurrectionist forces.

Recent polls, however, indicate that races are tightening in more regions than earlier expected, despite the DP's hopes for a landslide victory.

While the DP, which controls a majority in the National Assembly, seeks to extend the momentum for the Lee administration to push forward with its key policies, the PPP hopes to gain the footing needed to rebuild the conservative bloc amid deepening internal rifts in the aftermath of the martial law declaration.

Both parties view the capital area, where half of the country's population resides, as a key battleground.

The Seoul mayoral election has shaped up to be a fierce two-horse race between incumbent Oh Se-hoon of the PPP and ruling party candidate Chong Won-o.

A Hankook Research poll released Monday showed Chong leading with 42 percent against Oh's 36 percent.

Also closely watched is the parliamentary by-election in the Buk-A constituency in the southeastern city of Busan, where Ha Jung-woo, former presidential secretary for artificial intelligence policy and future planning, is competing against independent Han Dong-hoon and former PPP lawmaker Park Min-shik.

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