Election Turnout Stands at 36.7% as of 1 p.m.

Turnout for Wednesday's presidential election stood at 36.7 percent as of 1 p.m., the election regulator said.

The rate is far lower than that of 41.9 percent recorded at the same time during the 2002 presidential election and 47.6 percent in the 1997 presidential election.

Of 37,653,518 eligible voters across the country, 13,806,624 electors had turned out at polling stations.

The National Election Commission (NEC) is concerned that South Korea is heading for a record-low voter turnout of about 60 percent.

North Gyeongsang Province set the highest voter turnout at 43.1 percent followed by 42.4 percent in North Jeolla, 41.4 percent in South Jeolla, 41 percent in Gangwon and 39.7 percent in Daegu.

Seoul had the lowest turnout of 33.3 percent.

Voter turnout in South Korea has been on a downward trend since the direct popular vote was restored in 1987, following seven years of authoritarian rule by the Chun Doo-hwan regime.

The 1987 election saw a turnout of 89 percent in a pro-democracy atmosphere, but dropped to 81 percent in 1997 and 71 percent in 2002.

Polls will remain open until 6 p.m. Wednesday and the election regulator expects the leading candidate to emerge around 9 p.m.