S.Korea's by-elections held for mayors of two biggest cities

SEOUL, April 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's by-elections were held on Wednesday for the mayors of the country's two biggest cities and 19 other regional public posts.

The voting, which began at 6:00 a.m. local time, was scheduled to last till 8:00 p.m. at 3,459 polling stations to cast ballots for new mayors in the capital Seoul and the southeastern port city of Busan as well as 19 regional posts.

The early voting, conducted from last Friday to Saturday, posted the highest-ever turnout rate of 20.54 percent for any by-elections.

The number of eligible voters was about 8.4 million in Seoul and some 2.9 million in Busan respectively.

Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party and Oh Se-hoon of the main conservative opposition People Power Party ran for the Seoul mayor.

Kim Young-choon of the Democratic Party and Park Heong-joon of the People Power Party vied for the mayoral seat of Busan.