South Korea votes for new president after martial law turmoil
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Seoul during the presidential election on June 3, 2025.
South Koreans began voting Tuesday for a new president, capping six months of political upheaval following ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol's disastrous declaration of martial law.
A handful of elderly voters lined up at a polling station in Seoul's Munrae-dong area at 6am (9pm GMT) to cast their ballots.
"We were the first to arrive with the hope our candidate gets elected, and because the presidential election is the most important," Yu Bun-dol, 80, told AFP, adding she was voting for the conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate.
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.
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 PPP — Yoon's former party — trailed Lee on 35 percent.
The fallout from martial law, which has left South Korea 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.
"Conservative politics was associated with competent governance, but it's now hard to argue that they remain capable," said Kang Won-taek, a political science professor at Seoul National University.
Lee's Democratic Party already holds a parliamentary majority and analysts say the fractured conservative base will struggle in opposition unless it can resolve its issues.
South Korean presidents serve a single five-year term.
