The final voter turnout for the 21st presidential election has exceeded the previous record of 77.2% in the 19th presidential election in 2017, marking the highest voter turnout since the introduction of the early voting system in 2014.
The National Election Commission noted on the 3rd that the final aggregated voter turnout for the 21st presidential election was tentatively counted at 79.4%.
Out of 44,391,871 eligible voters in this presidential election, 35,244,416 completed their votes.
This reflects the results of early voting, in which 15,423,607 people participated from the 29th to the 30th of last month (34.74%), along with the counts from overseas voters, shipborne voters, and those voting by residence.
The voter turnout was 2.3 percentage points higher than the 77.1% turnout at the same time during the 20th presidential election in 2022.
The region with the highest voter turnout was Gwangju (83.9%), followed by South Jeolla Province (83.6%) and North Jeolla Province (82.5%). The lowest turnout was in Jeju (74.6%), followed by South Chungcheong Province (76%) and North Chungcheong Province (77.3%). Voter turnouts in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province were recorded at 80.1%, 77.7%, and 79.4%, respectively.
Voting took place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 14,295 polling stations nationwide for 14 hours. In-person voting, unlike early voting, was conducted only at the designated polling stations based on the voter's address.
Vote counting began around 8:30 p.m. at 251 counting centers nationwide. The National Election Commission projected that the outlines of the elected candidates would emerge around midnight; however, the timing could be adjusted earlier or later depending on the differences in vote percentages among the candidates.