Seoul mayoral race too close to call as vote count continues

The Seoul mayoral race has tightened into an extremely close contest as vote counting continues.

As of 4:50 a.m. Thursday, Democratic Party of Korea candidate Jeong Won-oh held 49.64 percent of the vote against People Power Party incumbent Oh Se-hoon's 47.64 percent, with 78.62 percent of ballots counted, according to the National Election Commission. Of 4,158,273 total votes tallied, Jeong had received 2,042,651 and Oh 1,960,272. The gap between the two candidates had exceeded 20 percentage points early in the count.

Exit polls released at 6 p.m. also showed Jeong ahead. A joint survey by the three major broadcasters — KBS, MBC and SBS — put Jeong at 51.4 percent against Oh's 46 percent, while a separate JTBC projection had Jeong at 53.5 percent and Oh at 42.9 percent. Jeong had long anticipated a tight finish. "I predicted months ago that the Seoul race would come down to the wire, and I have been preparing accordingly," he said. Oh had similarly forecast a two-horse race.

Seoul has been regarded as the fiercest battleground of this election cycle. Polling on election day ran from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, while early voting was held May 29 and May 30 during the same hours. Jeong urged voters to "cast a vote that gives strength to the Lee Jae Myung administration," framing the contest as a mandate for the Lee government. Oh appealed to supporters to "at least leave Seoul as the last stronghold."

Meanwhile, ballot shortages were reported at polling stations in parts of Seoul. The People Power Party's Seoul chapter said that as of 6 p.m. Thursday, 12 stations had run out of ballots — including sites in Songpa-gu's Munjeong 1-dong, Munjeong 2-dong, Jamsil 2-dong, Jamsil 7-dong, Jamsil 4-dong, Garak 2-dong and Wirye-dong, as well as stations in Gangnam-gu's Cheongdam-dong and Gaepo 2-dong, Gwangjin-gu's Guui 3-dong, and Dongjak-gu's Noryangjin 1-dong.

Oh called for a halt to the count over the shortages. "Counting must be suspended until remedial measures have been completed for areas where voters were unable to cast ballots due to the shortage," he said.