South Koreans vote for local by-elections

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) — South Koreans voted for local by-elections on Wednesday to elect an education chief of the capital Seoul and four local government heads.
Voting was scheduled to continue from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) at 2,404 polling stations across the country, according to the National Election Commission (NEC).
A total of 8,645,180 eligible voters were required to cast ballots for the election of the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education along with the chiefs of the southeastern port city Busan’s Geumjeong district, the western port city Incheon’s Ganghwa county, and the Yeonggwang and Gokseong counties in South Jeolla province.
The two-day early voting was conducted last week, with its turnout standing at 8.98 percent.
The by-elections came after the ruling People Power Party and the incumbent government faced a crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections. ■