Election campaign banners for presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea and Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party are seen on May 31 as the country’s presidential election nears, in Seoul, South Korea.
Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images
SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans are heading to the polls on Tuesday to pick a new president, in an election widely seen as a referendum on President Yoon Suk Yeol and the governing conservative party.
Polls will open across the country at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning (5 p.m. ET on Monday). Candidate Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party is expected to win. He has mostly kept a double-digit lead in polls over his conservative rival, Kim Moon-soo, throughout the race.
But whoever is elected, the new president will have little time for celebration.
The election comes nearly two months after President Yoon was removed from office after his impeachment for declaring martial law in the country. The intense confrontation both in the South Korean Parliament and among the public over Yoon’s fateful act has aggravated the country’s political polarization and shaken South Koreans’ confidence in their democracy.
