South Koreans vote in election seen as test of President Yoon Suk-yeol
Al Jazeera
South Korean voters could punish the ruling conservative party at the ballot box amid discontent over Yoon’s leadership.
Voting is under way in South Korea in parliamentary elections seen as a referendum on President Yoon Suk-yeol amid frustration about the cost of living and corruption.
Polls opened at 6am (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday and will remain open until 6pm (09:00 GMT). The country’s 44 million voters are choosing who will sit in the 300-seat National Assembly, with 254 members elected through direct votes in local districts and the other 46 allotted according to party support.
At a polling station in Seoul’s Gwangjin District, voters queued to have their identity documents checked and receive their ballot papers before heading into the polling booths to vote.
Opinion polls are mixed and election observers say candidates in about 50 to 55 local districts are in neck-and-neck races, making them too close to call.
“President Yoon has said a priority would be given to stabilising prices and livelihoods, but they weren’t stabilised, so I think that will be a big negative for the Yoon government during the election,” Kim Daye, a 32-year-old Seoul resident, told the Associated Press news agency.
