South Korea sets voter rolls at 44.6M for June 3 elections

South Korea's interior ministry announced Friday that 44,649,908 people are eligible to vote in the June 3 local elections, more than 340,000 above the 2022 tally, The Korea Times reported.

The nationwide vote will decide who leads 16 metropolitan cities and provinces, fills dozens of education superintendent posts and selects chiefs of smaller administrative units — a once-every-four-years cycle that shapes regional governance and public education policy across South Korea.

Of the total eligible voters, 44.4 million are domestic residents, 89,151 are overseas residents and 151,532 are foreign nationals, according to The Korea Times.

Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital, holds the largest share of the electorate at 11.9 million eligible voters, representing 26.6% of the nationwide total. Seoul follows with 8.3 million, or 18.63% of all voters. Busan, the country's second-largest city, has 2.86 million eligible voters, the report said.

Voters in their 50s form the largest age cohort, at 8.63 million people — 19.34% of the total eligible population, the ministry said.

Foreign nationals who have maintained South Korean residency for at least three years are permitted to cast ballots in local elections. Their numbers have grown to 151,532, more than three times the figure recorded in 2014, The Korea Times reported. Under South Korean law, foreign nationals remain ineligible to vote in presidential or parliamentary elections.

Alongside the local races, by-elections for 14 legislative constituencies will be held simultaneously. Those districts have 2.63 million eligible voters, according to the report.

Early voting is scheduled for May 29 and 30 at designated polling stations nationwide, ahead of the main election day on June 3.