Local Elections to Be Decided Today

The fourth national local elections will be held simultaneously on May 31 from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in 13,106 polling stations nationwide.

In this round of local elections, 3,867 seats are contested by 12,194 people from ruling and non-ruling parties, as well as unrepresented candidates, for 16 seats for upper- level government heads, 230 seats for lower-level government heads, 733 seats for province and metropolitan council representatives (655 seats by region, 78 seats by party), and 2,888 seats for district council representatives (2,513 by region, 375 by party).

The competition is 3.15:1, the highest record in the history of local elections in Korea.

Final tallies will be available at around 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. on June 1.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com