When will the election race be called?

[Anchor]

Now, let's talk more about the presidential election tomorrow (Jun. 3) with politics and diplomacy reporter Kim Min-hyuk.

Reporter Kim! The main voting tomorrow ends a bit later than usual?

When can we expect the winning candidate to be revealed?

[Reporter]

Yes, because the voting tomorrow has been brought due to a vacancy in the presidency, it will run until 8 PM.

Considering the time it takes for the ballot boxes to be moved to the counting center, it seems that the official counting will start after 8:30 PM.

By around midnight, it is highly likely that more than half of the counting will be completed.

The election commission also predicts that the projected presidential elect should be revealed around midnight.

It seems that the counting will be completely finished by around 6 AM the next day.

[Anchor]

So the projected presidential winner will be revealed around midnight, but in the last election, it was announced in the early morning, right?

[Reporter]

Yes, the timing of when the projection is revealed varies depending on the final voter turnout, the progress of counting at each polling station, and how competitive the election is.

In the 19th presidential election in 2017, the likely result of former President Moon Jae-in's election was announced around 10 PM that night.

In the case of the 20th presidential election in 2022, the likely election of former President Yoon Suk Yeol was revealed around 2 AM.

[Anchor]

Today (Jun. 2), on the last day of the election campaign, one noticeable point was the former presidents.

[Reporter]

Yes, former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak came out to support candidate Kim Moon-soo.

First, former President Park visited the Busan, Ulsan, and Jinju areas, including Beomeosa Temple in Busan, and then visited Jangsaengpo in Ulsan and Jinju Central Market.

Similar to the time at Daegu Seomun Market, the lawmakers accompanying her wore clothes with Kim Moon-soo's name on them.

Former President Lee highlighted his connection with candidate Kim Moon-soo at Cheonggyecheon in Seoul, expressing hope that Kim would be a candidate who understands the difficulties of small business owners, and is honest.

[Anchor]

Yes, and there must have been criticism from the Democratic Party, right?

[Reporter]

The Democratic Party criticized that forces trying to undermine South Korea are on the rise.

They mentioned that former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye were imprisoned for corruption and were impeached for manipulation of state affairs.

They pointed out that what was supposed to be a big tent for conservatives has ended up as a big tent for corruption and state affairs manipulation.

Compared to the two former presidents, former President Moon Jae-in did not have any special external activities.

During the early voting, he expressed his support for candidate Lee Jae-myung while emphasizing the need for a judgment on the insurrection.

[Anchor]

And finally, please tell us what the spouses of the candidates did on the last day of the election campaign.

[Reporter]

Yes, both candidates' spouses supported their husbands, but there were differences in their activities.

Kim Hye-kyung, the spouse of candidate Lee Jae-myung, visited religious communities today.

She met with the head monk Jinwoo of the Jogye Order and Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung.

There were no publicly released photos, indicating that her activities were private. Throughout the election campaign, she generally took a quieter approach rather than being very active.

In contrast, Seol Nan-young, the spouse of candidate Kim Moon-soo, mainly visited local markets today.

She appealed for support while visiting markets in Guro, Geumcheon, Gwanak, and Dongdaemun.

During the election campaign period, she was relatively often seen at campaign sites, appealing for support.