The polls for the local elections opened at 6 a.m. Wednesday, as political parties vie for administrative and legislative posts in regional governments.

The results, which are likely to bring significant changes to interparty and in-house dynamics for the Saenuri Party and New Politics Alliance for Democracy, are expected to come out from about 11 p.m.  

Buoyed by the highest-ever early voting rate, this year’s local elections are projected to see higher than usual voter participation. With the exception of the first local elections held in 1995, voter response to local elections has remained below 60 percent. The figure in 1995 came in at 68.4 percent.

The May 30-31 advance voting saw participation of over 11 percent, more than double the rates recorded in last year’s two parliamentary by-elections.

Including the votes cast during the advance voting, more than 17.5 million, or 42.5 percent, of the voters had made their choice as of 2 p.m.

By region, participation rate was the highest in South Jeolla Province at 53.5 percent, followed by Gangwon Province with 50.3 percent. At the other end of the scale was Daegu with 38.3 percent, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 39.2 percent. 

As voters went to the polls, the main opposition NPAD continued its appeal to the voters.

“These are elections that question the fundamentals of democracy -- whether the nation and the people need to exist for the president or if the president needs to exist for the people and the country,” NPAD spokesman Park Gwang-on said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by NPAD cochairman Rep. Kim Han-gil. 

“The world does not get better by itself. It changes by voting. The people’s power will usher in a new Korea. (I) trust the people,” Kim said after casting his vote Wednesday.

The Saenuri Party also continued to push its agenda, calling on the public to support the Park Geun-hye administration.

“Come together to give the Park Geun-hye administration the power to set Korea right and to achieve development,” Saenuri Party spokesperson Rep. Min Hyun-joo said.

In this year’s elections, the two parties are faced with unprecedented challenges. The ruling party has been dealt a significant blow by the April 16 ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing.

Impacted by the developments, the Saenuri Party is struggling in Seoul, where its candidate, Chung Mong-joon, is straggling behind the NPAD’s Park Won-soon. The conservative party is also experiencing trouble in Busan, one of its key strongholds.

As for the NPAD, the biggest blow has come from the very action that enabled its formation, namely the merger with Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo. After the Democratic Party merged with Ahn’s group, which never formally became a party, the main opposition backtracked on its promise to forgo candidate nominations.

The change in its stance resulted in Yoon Jang-hyun being nominated for the Gwangju mayoral race, which in turn prompted Kang Woon-tae to leave the party and run as an independent. The most recent publicly available opinion polls placed Yoon far behind Kang.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)