SEOUL ¨C South Korea has set June 3 as the tentative date for the next presidential election, Yonhap News reported on Monday, citing an unidentified government official.
The election was triggered after the Constitutional Court Friday unanimously decided to remove Yoon Suk Yeol as the country¡¯s president for violating the constitution with his Dec. 3 martial law decree. South Korea must hold an election within 60 days after an incumbent president is ousted, under the law.
Acting President Han Duck-soo plans to announce the schedule during a cabinet meeting slated for Tuesday, Yonhap said.
If the schedule is confirmed, candidates will be required to register by May 11 and the official campaign period will kick off on May 12, the report said. The law also requires that any public servant aspiring to run for president must resign from their current job at least 30 days before the poll. That would make May 4 the deadline for doing so in this case, according to the report.
There was no immediate response from the prime minister¡¯s office when reached by Bloomberg News.
The eight-judge court ruled that Yoon undermined the military¡¯s political neutrality by sending troops to parliament to confront ordinary citizens.
Yoon¡¯s shock decision shook financial markets and left the country with a leadership vacuum just as Donald Trump was preparing to launch an aggressive tariff campaign. Last week, the Trump administration slapped 25% duties on South Korean exports, which is among the highest imposed on U.S.¡¯s top security allies.
In addition to dealing with the fallout from Trump¡¯s duties, South Korea¡¯s new leader will also have to find a way to unify a deeply divided nation and move forward after four months of chaos and unrest sparked by the martial law decree.
Opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung is leading in the polls to replace Yoon, with support of 34% respondents in a Gallup poll released April. 4. The labor minister in Yoon¡¯s cabinet, Kim Moon-soo, is the other contender in the front, according to the poll.
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