South Korean voters have overwhelmingly chosen Moon Jae-in, a human rights lawyer and liberal candidate, as their next president.
While Moon had 41.4%, his nearest challenger, the conservative Hong Joon-Pyo, got 23.3% of the votes.
Jae-in favours greater dialogue with North Korea, in a change with current South Korean policy.
The early election was called after a corruption scandal led to the impeachment of the former president.
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Park Geun-hye is accused of allowing a close friend to extort money from companies. She denies all wrongdoing.
A former member of South Korea’s special forces turned lawyer, Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, unsuccessfully ran against Park in 2012 election.
He positioned himself as the man who can move the country on from the scandals of Park’s era.
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“I feel that not only my party and myself but also the people have been more desperate for a change of government,” he said while casting his vote earlier on Tuesday.
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