Banners for presidential candidates -- Lee Jae-myung (L) of the liberal Democratic Party and Kim Moon-soo (R) of the conservative People Power Party -- hang on a building in Uiwang, South Korea, 02 June 2025, on the eve of the presidential election. Photo: VCG

Candidates running in South Korea's snap presidential election stage made a last push for votes on Monday, the eve of a poll triggered by the ex-leader Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law declaration. All major polls put liberal Lee Jae-myung well ahead in the presidential race, while conservative Kim Moon-soo, from the People Power Party (PPP) - Yoon's former party - trailed Lee, media reported on Monday.

Following months of political turmoil after former president Yoon's ouster over his martial law fiasco, whoever wins the presidential election on Tuesday will face challenges bringing back stability to South Korea, said a Chinese analyst.

The new president will forgo the usual two-month transition and serve one full, five-year term, the news report said. The inauguration of the new president will fall on Wednesday, the Korea Times reported on Monday.

The top three candidates based on a Gallup Korea poll were the frontrunner Lee, with 49 percent public support, followed by Kim with 35 percent and another conservative candidate, New Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok, on 11 percent, according to Reuters on Monday.

Already by May 30, four days out from the election, more than 15 million people - of some 44.4 million voters - had cast their ballots during the early voting period, Bloomberg reported Monday.

While stuck in limbo without a president, the country has become more polarized and its politics more violent, BBC commented on Monday. Since launching his presidential bid, Lee has been receiving death threats, and his team say they have even uncovered a credible plot to assassinate him, according to BBC.  

During last week's televised debate, Lee Jae-myung labelled Kim as "Yoon Suk-yeol's avatar," while Kim called Lee a "harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship," Washington Post reported. 

Considering that South Korea's political polarization is deeply entrenched and unlikely to ease in the short term, regardless of who wins the presidential election, they will face challenges to heal a society marked by heightened tensions and deepening political divisions, Lü Chao, an expert on the Korean Peninsula issue at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

The winner of the June 3 election will face an economy that contracted in the first quarter, and will have to manage negotiations with Washington to avoid high tariffs. The country's potential growth rate for this year is estimated to be in the upper 1 percent range, with a gradual slowdown expected to bring growth down to nearly zero in the 2040s, reported the Yonhap on May 8, citing the Korea Development Institute.

Lü pointed out that the country also needs to repair strained diplomatic ties with China, its largest trade partner, to enhance bilateral cooperation and boost its economy. However, external forces - particularly the US, which maintains a military alliance with South Korea - continue to pressure Seoul into adopting a confrontational China policy that undermines regional stability and mutual trust, the expert said. 

As the country has never been more politically divided, the most South Korean nationals are expecting is a president who can bring back stability to the country, the expert noted.