After half a year of political agitation, uncertainty and division, the South Koreans went to the polls on Tuesday to choose a new president to succeed Yoon Suk Yeol, the former dishonored leader who threw the country into the crisis by declaring the martial law last December.
It is projected that the opposition leader Lee Jae-Myung will win, according to a joint departure survey published Tuesday night by KBS, MBC and SBS Korean broadcas.
The survey estimates that Lee, of the Democratic Liberal Party, will win in a landslide with 51.7% of the votes. It is expected that its main rival, Kim Moon-Soo, of the ruler Popular Conservative Party (PPP), will receive 39.3%. The official results have not yet been announced.
This election has a particular weight for South Korea, a key ally of the United States and an economic power in Asia, which has fought through months of instability, a rotating cast of intermediate leaders and a trial of political trial after Yoon's attempt to power.
The country's economy has also received a blow, in the midst of an imminent global recession and the current trade war of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Two contrasting candidates have pledged to lead the recovery of South Korea: a human rights lawyer turned into a politician with multiple legal problems and a former Labor Conservation Minister turned into.
“The country is suffering and emotions are so difficult that I left early in the morning in the hope that we could achieve an overwhelming victory to relieve this even a bit,” said Jung Han-Kyeol voter at a voting station in Seoul.
Another voter, Kim Dong-Wan, echoed the urgency: “My heart has been heavy since December. Instead of politics, I really wanted to vote for this country.”
Main candidates
Lee Jae-Myung, 60, is the favorite and candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party.
Born in poverty and once a worker at the minor factory, Lee became a human rights lawyer before entering politics. He has served as mayor, governor and legislator, losing Yoon in the presidential race of 2022.
In January 2024, Lee survived an attempt to murder when he was stabbed in the neck during a public event.
He returned to the center of attention on December 3, 2024: the night in which Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops to Parliament. Lee was one of several legislators who assaulted the legislature to celebrate an emergency vote that revoked the decree.
It was even broadcast live on a fence to enter the building, images that became viral and was seen dozens of millions of times.
In the campaign, Lee has promised radical reforms, including strict limits in presidential power and constitutional changes to allow two terms of four years instead of a five -year mandate.
It also promises to stabilize the economy, denuclearize North Korea, boost small businesses and expand the AI ​​industry.
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However, Lee faces continuous legal problems, including multiple judgments for bribes and a properties development scandal. He was also convicted of violating the electoral law in a separate case now under appeal.
Lee denies all irregularities. In a December interview with CNN, he said he had been accused “without any evidence or base”, claiming that the accusations were politically motivated.
Its main opponent is Kim Moon-Soo of the conservative PPP.
Kim, 73, is a former Minister of Labor and conservative figure for a long time. As a university student, he directed protests against the establishment and was imprisoned for his activism. He later joined the conservative politics and entered the race after the internal disputes of the party.
Initially, the PPP selected Kim as his candidate, then dropped him for former prime minister Han Duck-Soo, before reverse the course after Kim presented legal objections.
Despite these setbacks, Kim promised to unite the party and lead a “great tent” coalition to challenge Lee.
It promises to review judicial and electoral systems, reduce taxes, loosen trade regulations and invest in nuclear energy and new technologies.
Other candidates include Lee Jun-Seok, a former PPP leader who launched the new conservative reform party.
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