South Koreans expected at polling stations to choose their new president

(Seoul) Polling stations opened on Wednesday morning in South Korea for the election of a new president, with the main concern of voters being the increase in inequalities, far ahead of North Korea and its provocations, however increasingly more frequent.

A record turnout in early voting last week showed voters’ interest, despite a campaign marked by backlash between the two frontrunners, leftist candidate Lee Jae-myung of the now ruling Democratic Party and the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol of the People’s Power Party (PPP).

MM. Lee and Yoon are neck and neck in the polls, the difference between the two men not exceeding the margin of error, and they combine between them 90% of the voting intentions, leaving only crumbs in the ten other candidates.

Polling stations will close at 6 p.m. (9 a.m. GMT), and ballot boxes will then be accessible until 7:30 p.m. (10.30 a.m. GMT) for COVID-19 patients.

The country of 52 million people is currently going through a wave of the Omicron variant, with nearly 200,000 new daily cases. More than a million South Koreans who tested positive are currently in isolation at home, according to health authorities. The electoral law was changed last month to allow them to vote separately at the end of the day.

South Koreans have already had the opportunity to vote early on March 4 and 5. Some 37% of the 44 million voters went to the polls on this occasion, a record.

blunders

Soaring real estate prices in Seoul, growing wealth gaps and high youth unemployment are top concerns among voters, according to polls.

The new president will also face an increasingly aggressive North Korea, which is continuing a record series of weapons tests this year, including one last Saturday.

Mr Lee, 57, a former laborer and governor of the country’s most populous province, has proposed original measures including a universal minimum income and free school uniforms.

But he is in the crosshairs for a suspicious land transaction, especially after the suicide of two key witnesses in this case.

He started his campaign by apologizing for insulting family members over the phone. His wife was accused of embezzlement of public funds, and he was the subject of rumors of supposed links with the mafia.

His rival Yoon Suk-yeol, 61, is proposing a relaxation of labor law, aimed in particular at the minimum wage and the maximum working time.

But his proposal that has received the most attention is to scrap the Ministry of Gender Equality, on the grounds that, despite data to the contrary, South Korean women do not suffer from ‘systemic gender discrimination’. , according to him.

The curator himself has committed a series of blunders, the most recent of which is the deletion of a tweet about Ukraine, which featured a tangerine with an angry face drawn on it, a bizarre reference to the ‘orange revolution’ in this country in 2004-2005.

The law prohibits incumbent President Moon Jae-in from running for a second five-year term.

To date, all living former heads of state have been imprisoned for corruption after their departure.

Mr Yoon, a former attorney general appointed by Moon Jae-in, has previously warned that he would order an investigation into his former boss if elected, citing alleged “irregularities” the nature of which he did not specify.

This post-presidency curse created an extremely polarized and poisonous political climate in South Korea, where democracy was restored in 1987 after decades of dictatorship.

The winner will enter the “Blue House” in May, succeeding Moon Jae-in, who remains popular despite his failure to strike a peace deal with Pyongyang.