South Korea presidential election: Exit polls show dead heat | Elections News

Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol is slightly ahead of liberal Lee Jae-myung, according to projections after voting ends.

South Korea’s presidential election appears to have produced a dead heat between the two main candidates vying to lead the country for the next five years, according to exit polls.

Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, with 48.4 percent, is slightly ahead of liberal Lee Jae-myung, with 47.8 percent, an exit poll jointly conducted by three television networks showed on Sunday after voting ended.

Another poll by broadcaster JTBC showed Lee ahead with 48.4 percent, to Yoon’s 47.7 percent.

The vote capped a race that has been marked by surprises, scandals and smear campaigns.

South Korea’s next president will face mounting challenges, including deepening inequality, a rock-bottom birth rate, surging house prices and the effects of the country’s worst wave of COVID-19 infections.

They would also have to navigate an increasingly tense rivalry between China and the United States, while also dealing with the threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.

Lee, the standard-bearer of the ruling Democratic Party, and Yoon, from the main opposition People Power Party, are vying to succeed incumbent President Moon Jae-in, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.

The winner’s single term is set to start on May 10.