Voter turnout hits 46% as of 1 pm, highest on record

Turnout in Wednesday's local elections reached 46 percent as of 1 p.m., the highest ever recorded for local elections at that hour, the election watchdog said.

The National Election Commission (NEC) said 20.51 million out of 44.64 million eligible voters had cast their ballots, the highest turnout at the same hour since the 1998 local elections.

The latest turnout tally includes the 23.51 percent turnout from last week's two-day early voting, which was also the highest on record.

South Jeolla Province in the country's southwest logged the highest turnout of 56.1 percent, followed by North Jeolla Province at 52.2 percent and the eastern province of Gangwon recording 51.8 percent.

Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, recorded the lowest turnout of 43 percent.

Seoul's turnout stood at 46.1 percent.

Voting will continue until 6 p.m.