The first exit polls published in South Korea separate the two favorites in the presidential elections by half a pointconservative Yoon Suk-yeol and liberal Lee Jae-myung, pointing to a tense recount to determine who will lead the country for the next five years.
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The public broadcaster KBS and private stations MBC and SBS grant a 48.4% support for Yoon vs. 47.8% for Leewhile the cable chain JTBC instead attribute a 48.4% of the votes for the liberal candidate and 47.7% for the conservative.
It is planned that the count begins around 8:10 pm local time (6:00 am Colombian time), according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC)and last until dawn.
The third candidate in voting intention before the elections, the leftist Sim Sang-jeung, barely concentrates 2.5% of the votes according to the survey KBS, MBC and SBSwhile the survey of JTBC it only offers data of the two favorites.
This year’s elections have been one of the closest presidential elections since the country returned to democracy more than three decades ago.. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) and Yoon of the People’s Power Party (PPP) have been virtually tied in the latest polls released before the vote.
Adding the vote in advance, At the close of the polls, a high provisional level of participation was registered, 75.7%which is 3 points more than in the previous elections of 2017 and could end up being the best data since 1997.
The winner of these elections will take office on May 10, replacing the liberal Moon Jae-in, who, like the rest of the South Korean presidents, can only govern for five years and cannot repeat in office by constitutional mandate.
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A victory for Lee would give continuity to the liberals in the government and one for Yoon would break for the first time the 10-year cycles of alternation between the two blocs that have occurred since the country regained democracy in 1987.
The electoral dilemma of citizens
The elections come after a campaign full of disqualifications in which the programmatic promises of economic improvement have been overshadowed by the scandals that have dotted the candidates, considered by many to be the worst the country has had in a democracy.
The baseness exhibited and the shadows surrounding Lee and Yoon seem to incline many South Koreans not to have voted for either of them or to opt for “the lesser of two evils”.
Among other things, to Lee has been linked to a corruption scandal billionaire when he was mayor while Yoon has been weighed by the fact that his wife, Kim Keon-hee, was accused at the time of accepting bribes or manipulation of stock assets.
In any case, and despite having 13 different candidates, these elections to elect the president of South Korea for the next five years are a matter of two.
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Whether they like it or not, South Koreans must decide between Yoon, a former prosecutor famous for having put presidents and big businessmen on the bench who runs with the conservative People’s Power Party (PPP), or Lee, a popular former governor of the country’s most populous province. of the progressive and ruling Democratic Party (PD).
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from Efe
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