Voter Turnout of Early Voting Estimated at 26%

The National Election Commission (NEC) estimates a bit more than 26 percent of South Korea's eligible voters cast ballots in this week's two-day early voting window for the presidential election.

In other words, eleven-point-07 million people out of the 42-point-47 million eligible voters showed up to polls on Thursday and Friday.

It's more than twice the 12-point-two percent early voting rate in the 2016 general elections and marks a record high turnout since early voting was first adopted in South Korea in a by-election in 2013.

Early voting has been applied to nationwide elections three times --- local elections in 2014, general elections last year, and this year for the first time in a presidential election.

Based on early voting numbers, the commission expects the overall turnout for the May ninth presidential election may reach as high as 80 percent. The voter turnout for the 2012 presidential election when the early voting system was not introduced was 75-point-eight percent. 

The long holiday in early May, which includes the election day on Tuesday, may influence overall turnout.