Agencies seol

Exit polls and midway vote counts showed Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea as certain to become South Korea's next president, turning the page on six months of relentless political upheaval and a leadership vacuum left by ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s troubled legacy, The Korea Herald reported.

The forecast signaled a transfer of power to the liberal Democratic Party from the conservative People Power Party in a whirlwind 22-day campaign, just three years after the 2022 presidential election. That year, Yoon defeated Lee by the narrowest-ever margin of just 0.73 percentage point. "I express respect to the people's great decision," Lee said as he stepped out from his residence to head to the party headquarters in Yeouido, after his win was deemed certain by the nation's major broadcasters just before midnight.

Lee won 51.7 percent of the vote, defeating his rival Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party by a margin of 12.4 percentage points at Tuesday's early presidential election, according to exit polls conducted by the Korea Election Pool, a consortium of the country’s three major terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS. Kim secured 39.3 percent, while Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Party garnered 7.7 percent — falling short of the 10 percent threshold required to qualify for reimbursement of half his campaign expenses.