UPDATE: Polling underway in South Korea's crucial elections

UPDATES WITH LATEST TURNOUT, NO CHANGE IN LEDE, HEADER, AND DECK

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA)- Millions of South Koreans turned out to vote in crucial parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with an intense contest expected between the ruling party and the main opposition party, which currently controls the legislature, local media reported.

Voting began at 6 a.m. local time (2100GMT Tuesday) and will end at 6 p.m. (0900GMT) in 14,259 polling stations across the country, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing the National Election Commission(NEC).

Around 25 million people, or 56.4% of eligible voters, had cast ballots as of 2 p.m. (0500GMT), with 14 million voting before election day, according to the NEC.

The turnout for the parliamentary elections in 2020 was 66.2%.

Following last week's early voting, over 30 million people are now eligible to vote in the general election. More than 31% of eligible voters -13.84 million out of over 44.28 million - voted during the two-day early voting period, which ended last Saturday.

It was the first time in the country's electoral history that early voting turnout exceeded 30%. In the 2020 election, the early voting turnout was 24.95%.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) chairman Lee Jae-myung, and former President Moon Jae-in had all voted early on Wednesday.

The vote is seen as a test of the Yoon administration, as the ruling party seeks to increase its representation in the 300-member parliament, where the opposition currently holds a majority.

According to the election watchdog, approximately 3.07 million voters, or 6.9%, had cast ballots as of 9 a.m.

According to several polls, the opposition DP would win more seats than the PPP, with some suggesting that the entire opposition bloc could win more than 200 seats.