South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung projected to win presidential election

Liberal Lee Jae-myung looks set to win South Korea’s snap presidential election, with exit polls suggesting he enjoys a significant lead.

One exit poll conducted by South Korea’s three major TV stations – KBS, MBC and SBS – suggested Lee will obtain 51.7 percent of the votes cast during Tuesday’s election, which was called to find a successor to Yoon Suk-yeol, the conservative who was removed from office in April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

His nearest rival, conservative candidate Kim Moon-soo, trailed with 39.3 percent in the projection.

Another poll by MBN projected Lee will win 49.2 percent of the vote against Kim’s 41.7 percent, according to state news agency Yonhap.

The winning candidate is due to take office as soon as Wednesday, with the unusual circumstances having seen the usual two-month transition period dismissed.

Applause and cheers filled the situation room of the National Assembly, where Democratic Party officials were gathered as the result of the exit poll was announced.

Kim’s poor showing was not helped by the former Yoon ally’s failure to convince a third-party candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, to unify and avoid splitting the right-wing vote.

Al Jazeera’s Jack Barton, reporting from Seoul, said Kim also struggled to distance himself from the scandal around Yoon. The impeached former president is now facing a criminal trial for insurrection.

“He is seen as a Yoon loyalist,” Barton said.

The long-running crisis around Yoon helped mobilise voters, with turnout running at about 77.8 percent by late afternoon, officials said – the highest in nearly two decades. That could bode well for the winner of the polls, who needs a solid mandate after the political turmoil of the last six months.

Credit: aljazeera.com

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