Voter turnout hits 59.9% as of 2 p.m.

More than half of South Koreans have voted in Wednesday’s presidential election, as of 2 p.m., according to the National Election Committee.

Since polls opened at 6 a.m., voter turnout has hit 59.9 percent across 13,964 polling stations and the figure might reach a record 80 percent at this rate, the election watchdog said. The nearly 60 percent turnout so far represents a figure combined with last week’s two-day early voting, which stood at 26.04 percent.

In the 2012 presidential election, the final turnout stood at 75.8 percent.

A total of 42.48 million people, or 82 percent of South Korea’s population, are eligible to vote in the presidential election. Voting will close at 8 p.m.

(sh@heraldcorp.com)