Democratic Party of Korea's Daegu mayoral candidate Kim Boo-kyum greets supporters at his campaign office at Duryu Intersection in Dalseo-gu, Daegu, on Wednesday afternoon after checking broadcast exit poll results.
Democratic Party of Korea's Daegu mayoral candidate Kim Boo-kyum greets supporters at his campaign office at Duryu Intersection in Dalseo-gu, Daegu, on Wednesday afternoon after checking broadcast exit poll results.

Vote counting in the Daegu mayoral and North Gyeongsang Province gubernatorial races was proceeding smoothly Wednesday as balloting in the June 3 local elections wrapped up.

With counting in its early stages, the Daegu mayoral race had reached a tabulation rate of 22.1 percent as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Democratic Party of Korea candidate Kim Boo-kyum held 54.1 percent of the counted vote against People Power Party candidate Choo Kyung-ho's 44.9 percent.

In the North Gyeongsang gubernatorial race, tabulation stood at 30.7 percent. PPP candidate Lee Cheol-woo led at 63.4 percent to Democratic Party candidate Oh Jung-gi's 36.6 percent, making Lee the strong favorite.

Earlier, a joint exit poll by the three major terrestrial broadcasters — KBS, MBC and SBS — had projected Choo winning the Daegu mayoral race with 49.9 percent to Kim's 49.1 percent.

The same poll forecast Lee taking the North Gyeongsang governorship with 69.7 percent against Oh's 30.3 percent.

A separate JTBC projection, however, put Kim ahead with 49.7 percent to Choo's 49.2 percent — a razor-thin margin.


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com