October 16 by-elections at around midnight...Gokseong-gun County is the ancestor of the Democratic Party.

Re-election of Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, Democratic Party candidate Cho Sang-rae won
We're counting the votes...Currently, Park Yong-cheol is the first in the national power
Seoul Superintendent of Education 'Progress' Jung Geun-sik tops...'Conservative' Cho Jeon Hyuk 2nd place
Final by-elections Turnout of 24.62%…Seoul Superintendent of Education 23.48%

[Anchor]
Currently, the counting of votes for the October 16 by-elections, which will select four heads of local governments and the superintendent of education in Seoul, is underway.

The outline is expected to be revealed around midnight, and Cho Sang-rae of the Democratic Party was elected as Gokseong-gun County, Jeollanam-do.

I'm connecting with the reporter. Reporter Kim Da-yeon, please tell us the status of the by-elections.

[Reporter]
As it passes 10 p.m., the counting of votes is speeding up.

Cho Sang-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea was elected as the first governor of Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, with 55.26% of the vote.

He beat Park Woong-doo of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party by nearly 20%p.

The turnout for the re-election of Yeonggwang-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province, where the opposition party's family fight was fierce, was 60%, with Democratic Party candidate Jang Se-il leading with 41.09% of the vote.

The vote-counting of the Busan Geumjeong-gu District Office's by-election, which is considered the biggest showdown between the ruling and opposition parties, is the slowest, and candidate Yoon Il-hyun, the power of the people, is in first place.

The by-election in Ganghwa County, Incheon, is led by Park Yong-chul, the People's Power candidate, followed by Han Yeon-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Chung Geun-sik of the progressive camp is leading the by-election of the Seoul Superintendent of Education regardless of political parties.

[Anchor]
What was the turnout rate?

[Reporter]
The final turnout for the by-elections was provisionally tallied at 24.62%.

The turnout for the Seoul Superintendent of Education election, which had a large number of voters in the 8 million range, was as low as 23.48 percent, which led to the average turnout.

The average turnout of the four basic organizations was 53.9%, exceeding 48.7% during the by-election of the head of Gangseo-gu District Office in Seoul last October.

Two years ago, voters in the by-elections showed higher participation in voting than the national average of 50.9% during the June 1 local elections.

The highest turnout was in Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do, where the fierce election campaign between opposition candidates took place, recording 70.1%.

Voter turnout for the re-election in Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, followed by 58.3% for the by-election in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, and 47.2% for the election of Busan Geumjeong-gu District, which the ruling and opposition parties cited as the winning point.

In the local elections two years ago, turnout in this area was 51.3 percent.

Both the ruling and opposition parties interpret that by-elections and high voting enthusiasm are not disadvantageous to their party candidates.

Although it is not an election to select lawmakers or heads of regional organizations, it is the first opportunity to confirm local public sentiment since the general election, so the leadership of the ruling and opposition parties and the battle for political leadership are expected to change depending on the results.

I'm Kim Dayeon of YTN in the political department.