South Korea election results: Who will become next President? What do opinion poll, pre-election surveys predict?
After months of turmoil following imposition of a brief martial law, South Koreans is now voting in large numbers to elect their new President and all eyes are now on liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung who entered the Presidential race with overwhelming popularity.
The opinion polls and pre-election surveys have also favoured Lee Jae-myung, showing him in commanding lead with the support of 51 per cent of South Koreans.
Gallup Korea, in their opinion poll, showed Lee Jae-myung maintaining a 49 per cent lead over his conservative rival Kim Moon-soo, who trails with 35 per cent.
Lee Jun-seok, leader of the smaller conservative New Reform party, also trails behind the two with 11 per cent.
Realmeter's final poll echoed the trend, placing Lee at 49.2 per cent and Kim at 36.8 per cent.
But as per the fresh opinion polls, held last week, Lee Jae-myung's popularity is said to have waned as another Gallup Korea opinion polls mentioned that Lee holds support of 45 per cent with his archrival closing the gap with 36 per cent.
However, Lee continues to maintain a comfortable lead over Kim.
Pre-election surveys and opinion polls suggest that Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential race, is now on track for a decisive victory.
With a regular presidential election, there is a months-long transition period, and the new leader's term begins at midnight after the predecessor's final day. Since it is a snap election, the winner becomes President as soon as the National Election Commission ratifies the vote tally.
The snap election followed the impeachment and removal from office of Yoon Suk Yeol, the conservative who briefly imposed martial law in December.
According to the reports, the South Korea election results would be announced by midnight.
The winner of Tuesday's presidential election in South Korea will take office just a day later, forgoing the usual, two-month transition to serve a full, five-year term.
This is Lee's third run for presidency. In 2022, he lost the election to Yoon in the closet-ever margin recorded in South Korea's presidential elections.
Lee Jae-myung, 60, the Democratic Party candidate, was the driving force behind an Opposition-led campaign to oust Yoon, whose Dec 3 marital law decree plunged South Korea into turmoil.
Lee said he initially thought Yoon's late-night televised marital law announcement was a digital deepfake when his wife told him of the news. After realizing it was real, Lee, then the party's chairman, ordered all his party lawmakers to rush to the National Assembly to vote down Yoon's decree.
He then livestreamed his moves to the Assembly, urging the public to gather there to protest Yoon's action.
A sufficient number of lawmakers eventually made it into the assembly hall to overturn Yoon's decree, as the troops he deployed appeared largely unwilling to use force to block access to the building.
Lee later led an Assembly vote to impeach Yoon before the Constitutional Court formally ousted him in early April.
'The rebellion was subdued, and Yoon Suk Yeol was dismissed. The long, severe winter has passed, and spring has come again. The people have finally made it,' Lee said in a book published in mid-April.
'If you give me a chance to work as president, I will clearly prove how big change one official – the person in charge – can bring,' Lee said.
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