SEOUL, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Lee Jae-myung, candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, was leading in the South Korean presidential election with 30 percent of the total votes counted, election commission data showed Wednesday.
Lee garnered 49.63 percent of support at 11:42 p.m. local time (1442 GMT), according to the National Election Commission.
Lee was closely trailed by Yoon Suk-yeol of the main conservative People Power Party who gained 47.08 percent.
Sim Sang-jung of the progressive Justice Party fell far behind with a support of 2.09 percent.
The final turnout was 77.1 percent, or 34,071,400 voters among the electorate of 44,197,692 people. It was slightly lower than the previous election's 77.2 percent in 2017. ■