South Korea's 22nd general elections, which will determine the occupants of the 300-member unicameral parliament, has kicked off. 

A total of 14-thousand-259 polling stations across the country are open to eligible voters from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Many winners of the 254 constituencies will likely be determined by 2 a.m. Thursday, a later time than previous elections due to an additional process requiring the manual verification of ballots. 

Official results based on ballot counting by the National Election Commission(NEC) are expected to come out later on Thursday.   

Results for the 46 proportional seats are expected to come out later than district votes as there are 38 parties on the list, some of which consist of new satellites of existing parties. 

A record 31-point-28 percent of voters cast their ballots for the general elections during the two-day early voting period last week. 

According to the National Election Commission, 13-point-84 million people out of 44-point-28 million eligible voters cast their ballots at three-thousand-565 polling stations nationwide during the early voting period that ended on Saturday. 

It marked the first time the early-voting turnout for the general elections has exceeded 30 percent.