Lee Jae-myeong has been confirmed as the president of South Korea. Yoon Suk-yeol's conservative regime has come to an end

Lee Jae-myeong, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, has been confirmed as the president of South Korea, achieving a regime change after only three years. This general election was held after former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3 last year, triggering a constitutional crisis and being impeached and removed from office. It is the second early general election in South Korea's constitutional history and has attracted much attention.

At 11:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday (June 3rd), South Korean media all released flash news, announcing that Lee Jae-myung was "confirmed to be elected". Subsequently, Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hye-kyung walked out of their residence together and spoke to the media, saying, "I pay my deepest respects to the great people." This is a great decision made by the people. I will do my utmost, live up to the trust placed in me, and earnestly fulfill the significant responsibilities and missions I shoulder.

As of the deadline for submission, the authorities have completed the counting of 61.78% of the votes. Lee Jae-myung won 48.77% of the votes, and his closest opponent, the candidate of the People Power, Kim Moon-soo, received 42.78% of the votes.

After the voting ended at 8 p.m. that day, major South Korean TV stations released exit polls. According to a joint exit poll conducted by KBS, MBC and SBS, Lee Jae-myung is expected to receive 51.7% of the votes, Kim Moon-soo (39.3%) is about 12 percentage points behind, and the candidate of the Reform New Party, Lee Jun-seok, only received 7.7%. An independent poll released by JTBC also shows a similar trend. Lee Jae-myung received 50.6% of the votes, Kim Moon-soo 39.4%, and Lee Jun-seok 7.9%.

Data from the Central Election Management Commission shows that a total of 44,391,871 qualified voters participated in this election, with a turnout rate of 79.4%, reaching a new high since the 15th general election in 1997, reflecting the strong willingness of voters to participate in this "political settlement election".

After the exit poll was released, the campaign headquarters of the Democratic Party of Korea burst into thunderous applause. Supporters shouted "Lee Jae-myung", and the scene was filled with a festive atmosphere. In contrast, the atmosphere at the election strategy headquarters of the People Power was gloomy. Although they had previously shouted the slogan of "comeback victory" to boost morale, it was far from expectations. Some legislators even left their seats early.

Park Chan-dae, the acting leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in an interview with KBS Television: "This is the trial of the regime of civil unrest by the sovereign and the people. The lead achieved by Lee Jae-myung is the people's insistence on democratic justice."

The People Power attributed the lag of its own candidate in the exit polls to the hasty preparations for the election campaign. Kim Sung-won, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, pointed out that Kim Moon-soo was officially nominated as a candidate less than three weeks before the election. The short period of time led to insufficient publicity, and the integration process with former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo was chaotic, missing the opportunity to unify the conservative camp.

One of the focuses in the later stage of the election campaign is whether the votes against Lee Jae-myung can be consolidated. Analysts pointed out that the conservative camp originally hoped to facilitate the convergence of Kim Moon-soo and Lee Jun-seok of the Reform New Party, but due to fundamental differences in their positions towards Yoon Suk-yeol, the integration eventually broke through. Before the election, Lee Jun-seok declared that he would "never cooperate with those related to martial law", clearly drawing a line. Eventually, the conservative camp could only fight on their own.

Furthermore, according to exit polls, Lee Jae-myeong holds an advantage among all age groups under 50, while Kim Moon-soo maintains a certain level of support among voters over 70 years old, but fails to reverse the overall election situation.

Oh Jung-il, a professor in the Department of Public Administration at Kyungpook National University, analyzed to Lianhe Zaobao: "Kim Moon-soo has never led Lee Jae-myung in previous public opinion polls. Regime change has long been an inevitable trend." If the ruling party can prompt Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Gun-hee to apologize for the controversy and gain the trust of the reformists, perhaps it can strive for the unification of Lee Jun-seok's camp. But the reality is that none of these key conditions have been met, so losing the election is almost an established fact.

The Central Election Commission of South Korea will announce the final vote count results in the early hours of Wednesday (the 4th). The presidential inauguration ceremony will be held at the National Assembly Building on Yeouido, Seoul on Wednesday morning.