Voters in the central South Korean city of Cheongju have backed the winning presidential candidate in the last seven elections. This time around, there is no clear candidate building a wave of support just days before the poll.
"It’s a curse,” Kim Yoon-sun, a resident in her 60s, said of the city’s notoriety as the king of swing districts. "Election? Oh dear. Don’t even ask, please,” she said, calling it the most disappointing presidential race she has seen.
The issues of concern for voters are clear in the March 9 presidential race. Housing prices have shot up; income disparity and a gender-based wage gap that was already among the highest in the developed world have grown worse during the pandemic. Inflation unexpectedly accelerated in February and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine suggests there will be little respite for rising prices.