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South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is set to win the country’s presidential election, according to an exit poll released after the close of voting on Tuesday evening.

The exit poll by three leading South Korean broadcasters put Lee, candidate of the leftwing Democratic party, in first place with 51.7 per cent of the vote, well ahead of rival Kim Moon-soo, of the conservative People Power party, on 39.3 per cent in the first-past-the-post election.

The exit poll only includes citizens who voted on polling day, with more than a third of the electorate having previously voted.

Tuesday’s election followed six months of political turmoil triggered by then-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law in December last year. The resulting crisis led to Yoon’s impeachment by the opposition-controlled national assembly and his removal in April by South Korea’s constitutional court.

This is a developing story