South Korea holds presidential vote after martial law unrest
South Koreans are set to vote on Tuesday for a new president, concluding six months of political turmoil triggered by former leader Yoon Suk Yeol's controversial declaration of martial law.
Millions have already cast their ballots in the snap election, with more than a third of registered voters doing so last week during two days of early voting, the National Election Commission said, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
All major polls have put liberal Lee Jae-myung well ahead, with the latest Gallup survey showing 49 percent of respondents viewed him as the best candidate.
Kim Moon-soo, from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) -- Yoon's former party -- trailed Lee on 35 percent.
The fallout from martial law, which has left the country effectively leaderless for the first months of US President Donald Trump's second term, is the top concern for voters, experts said.
"Polls show the election is largely viewed as a referendum on the previous administration," Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women's University, told AFP.
"What's particularly striking is that the martial law and impeachment crisis not only swayed moderates but also fractured the conservative base." And analysts say that South Korea's conservative party is in crisis.
Yoon's impeachment over a disastrous declaration of martial law, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament, made him the second straight conservative president to be stripped of office after Park Geun-hye in 2017.
Conservative candidate Kim also failed to convince a third party candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, to unify and avoid splitting the right-wing vote.
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