President-elect Moon Jae-in, elected in the nineteenth presidential election on May 9, smiles brightly toward the citizens as he stands on a special stage installed in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. Yonhap News

Moon Jae-in (64), the presidential candidate of the Minjoo Party of Korea has been elected as the nineteenth president. A new government will enter office a decade after Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (current Liberty Korea Party) won the presidential election in 2007.
The passion of the square that led to the nation뭩 first ever impeachment of a president was expressed as determination to judge the conservative government and build a new country.
As of 2:15 a.m. May 10, with 82.21% of the ballots from 251 ballot-counting offices nationwide counted, Moon leads with 40.05% of the votes, with second place Hong Jun-pyo (25.39%) of the Liberty Korea Party trailing far behind. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party followed with 21.44%, followed by Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party with 6.62% and Sim Sang-jeung of the Justice Party with 5.94%.
Shortly after the election ended at 8 p.m. on May 9, Moon led the race with 41.4% of the votes in an exit poll jointly released by the three major broadcasting companies뾍BS, MBC and SBS. Hong trailed by 18.1% with 23.3%.
The ballot count showed that Moon led the race in thirteen of the sixteen major cities and provinces except for Sejong. In particular, he received the majority of support in the Honam region, the heart of the opposition뾉wangju (60.38%), Jeollabuk-do (64.54%) and Jeollanam-do (59.54%).
Meanwhile, Hong ranked first in three regions뾉yeongsangbuk-do (50.56%), Daegu (46.82%), and Gyeongsangnam-do (38.93%).
On the morning of May 10, when the National Election Commission announces the winner, Moon will begin his five-year term. Moon will start his official duties with a phone call to Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at his home.
Moon plans to announce the nominee for his first prime minister and his appointments for chief of staff and major senior secretaries as early as May 10.
Lee Nak-yeon, the governor of Jeollanam-do; Ahn Hee-jung, the governor of Chungcheongnam-do and Chin Young, a lawmaker of the Minjoo Party of Korea are being mentioned as prime minister nominees. Former lawmaker Lim Jong-seok, who was Moon's chief of staff during the campaign, is a strong candidate for the Cheong Wa Dae chief of staff.
The National Election Commission announced that 32,808,377 among the total number of voters, 42,479,710 took part in this election, and the commission's turnout estimate was 77.2%. This was the highest in twenty years, since the 80.7% turnout in the 1997 presidential election. This was 1.4% higher than the turnout for the 2012 presidential election (75.8%) and includes the turnout for early voting on May 4-5, overseas voting and home voting.