▲ President Lee Jae Myung (L) and first lady Kim Hea Kyung cast ballots at a community center near Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 29, 2026. (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) president-early voting

(2nd LD) Lee, first lady cast ballots in early voting near Cheong Wa Dae for June 3 elections

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 3-4)

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung and first lady Kim Hea Kyung visited a neighborhood community center near Cheong Wa Dae on Friday to cast their ballots in early voting for the upcoming local elections.

Wearing a gray tie, Lee and his wife cast ballots at the Samcheong neighborhood community center for the June 3 elections in Incheon's Gyeyang-B district, where the first couple's personal residence is registered, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

After entering a voting booth, Lee briefly stepped out and asked an election official nearby whether his ballot would still be valid as the stamp appeared only partially on the ballot paper.

After being told it would be valid, the president returned to the booth and finished casting his vote.

The two-day early voting began earlier Friday for the local elections and parliamentary by-elections, in which 16 mayoral and gubernatorial posts will be contested, along with 227 local government chief positions and some 4,000 seats on local councils. Voters can cast their ballots at any of more than 3,500 polling stations across the nation from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The upcoming elections are the first major ones for the Lee administration since it took office in June and thus widely regarded as a referendum on its first year in office.

The results are expected to determine, or at least fine-tune, the Lee administration's policy direction and personnel structure going forward.

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