Lee Jae-Myung Poised to Win South Korea’s Presidential Election
A South Korean man holds a banner with Lee Jae-myung’s image. X/ @dw_espanol
June 3, 2025 Hour: 8:38 am
This is the second time in the past three administrations that South Korea has had to hold an early presidential election.
On Tuesday, the first exit polls released after the close of voting stations in South Korea placed opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung as the clear winner of the presidential election, with around 50% of the vote.
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Kim Moon-soo appeared to be in second place with approximately 40%, while the third-most voted candidate was Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party, who garnered 7.7%.
The poll surveyed more than 80,000 voters at 325 polling stations across the country. It has a margin of error of 0.8 percentage points, plus or minus, with a 95% confidence level.
Other exit polls showed similar estimates. Broadcaster JTBC projected that Lee would receive 50.6% of the vote, compared with 39.4% for Kim. Channel A put Lee at 51.1% and Kim at 38.9%, while MBN predicted a narrower victory for Lee, with 49.2% to Kim’s 41.7%.
These results align with the final opinion polls published before the election, which already showed the progressive Lee with a lead of more than 12 percentage points in this early presidential vote held Tuesday in South Korea.
The National Election Commission began counting ballots after voting centers closed at 8 p.m. local time. The name of the winner is expected to be known overnight.
The presidential vote was triggered under the South Korean Constitution, which requires the country to hold elections within 60 days of a presidential vacancy. The election comes six months after then-President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.
On April 4, South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously upheld Yoon’s impeachment over his declaration of a state of emergency, confirming his removal from office by the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
This marks the second time in the past three administrations that South Korea has had to hold an early presidential election due to a president’s ousting, following the removal of Park Geun-hye in 2017.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
