Voters passionate but perplexed

A man places his voting slip into a ballot box set up at Seongsan-dong, Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times

From early Wednesday morning, people queued at 13,388 polling stations nationwide to pick local government leaders, hoping that they will better their lives and fulfill their communities' needs. 

They agreed that the election was of the utmost importance but at the same time was one of the trickiest event of its kind in recent years. 

At Bulgwang Elementary School of northern Seoul, dozens of people lined up to vote.

"The first issue is the economy and so is the second and last," Kim Dong-jun, a local resident, said. "I run a small business 

and it hasn't gone too well for the past 

A child covers his head out of boredom while waiting for his mother to finish voting at a polling station in Hannam-dong, Yongsan, Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Kim Ju-young

couple of years. Those who can focus on our everyday lives will get my vote," he said.

"For the past several years, we have been fighting over ideas but I think it is time we talk about practicality," another voter Kim Young-sun said adding that she had waited for the election for quite a while. 

'Justice will prevail' 

At POSCO's headquarters in southern Seoul, a group of people arrived to vote before going on a picnic. "You can't miss this. There is fierce competition out there and I wanted to be of help to the person I support," Kim Ju-ho, an office worker, said. "While some are playing political gambits I want justice to win," he said.

While the older generations focused on the person and political parties, the youngsters were keener on studying the individuals and their pledges. 

"I think a person with abundant experience should take charge of the administration," said Bae Jong-sung, 60, in the Gangnam area, where conventionally conservative parties take the stronghold. "When they make a decision, they have good reasons - they know the pros and cons. I see some young people talking about ideals which seem right. But at the end of the day, they cannot beat reality," he said. He said he supports parties with lots of administrative experiences.

On the other hand office worker Joo Sun-jin, 29, said "No, I wasn't really counting on the political parties." Joo, who lives in Gwangju, one of the core constituencies for the main opposition Democratic Party, said she looked into all the pledges the candidates have made. 

"I scratched out absurd ideas. Then I scratched out people who had debts. Then I looked into their pledges. I wanted a fair person with great perspectives for the future. That's the one I voted for," she said. 

Regional sentiment 

The same attitude was detected among people from the opposite side of the peninsula. Kim Bo-na, a South Gyeongsang Province native said she wanted the country to make history with her vote. "Regional sentiments cannot influence me and my parents' vote," she said. 

The main obstacle to the successful voting inside the booths was its intricacy. Casting ballots for eight individuals was tough, Jeon Ji-hye, an office worker said. "Yes, you remember the candidates for the mayor and superintendents, but the rest are just more of a lucky draw, because you can't remember them all," she said. 

The National Election Commission (NEC) said several people had tried to rip up their ballots because they were confused on who to vote for. Some senior citizens complained that they could not identify the names written on the papers and asked others such as their offspring to vote for them, only to be denied by NEC staff. 

In Jeju, the NEC and local administrative staff mistakenly omitted giving out mayoral ballots to 40 people because there were "too many papers to give to a single person."