By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The presidential election Wednesday saw the largest margin of victory between the president-elect and the runner-up amid the lowest voter turnout.
Grand National Party candidate Lee Myung-bak secure 48 percent of the votes, the largest proportion since the direct popular vote was reintroduced in 1987.
Chung Dong-young of the liberal United New Democratic Party received 26.9 percent and independent Lee Hoi-chang, 15.3 percent as of 11 p.m., according to the National Election Commission.
However, voter turnout was the lowest in the last 20 years. According to the NEC, the turnout was 62.9 percent. The NEC said 23.7 million voters went to the polls out of an electorate of 37.7 million.
The election held in 1987 after the pro-democracy movement saw an 89.2 percent turnout, but this has fallen since then to 81.9 percent in 1992, 80.7 percent in 1997 and 70.8 percent in 2002.
The election commission had urged people to vote through televised campaigns and cell phone text messages, but some chose to take trips ― travel agencies reported brisk business.
Political observers said people lost interest in the election because of Lee's long-term solid lead.
In previous elections, the two main candidates were tied until the very last moment, and thus every vote was believed to influence the result.
However, with one candidate dominating the poll this time, Lee's supporters neglected casting their ballots, thinking Lee would be elected anyway without their votes, while those supporting other candidates gave up, saying their votes would not reverse his lead.
They added that people's antipathy toward politics contributed to the low turnout, as candidates and political parties failed to attract voters with policies, and only engaged in smear campaigns.
``In 2002, voters were clearly divided in two according to their social class, region and generation, but there was no such confrontation in this poll,'' a pollster at the Korea Society Opinion Institute said.
North Gyeongsang Province posted the highest voter turnout with 68.4 percent followed by Daegu with 67 percent; North Jeolla Province, 66.9 percent; and South Jeolla Province, 64.7 percent.
Incheon and South Chungcheong Province marked the lowest turnouts with 60.3 percent each.