by Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Lee Jae-myung was elected South Korea's 21st president in a snap election amid growing aspiration for a better life both materially and emotionally, advocated by the elected president during his campaign.

Lee of the majority liberal Democratic Party won 49.42 percent of support, defeating his archrival Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party by a broad margin of 8.27 percentage points, according to the final vote count released by the National Election Commission on Wednesday.

He formally began his single five-year term with the election watchdog's approval earlier in the day.

The incoming president celebrated with jubilant supporters crowding the square and streets near the parliamentary building in Seoul overnight as his victory was assured by local media outlets in a middle stage of vote counting.

In a televised speech, Lee told supporters that he will get over the insurrection, committed by his predecessor, and will make any military coup never happen again.

He vowed to revive the faltering Asian economy and boost people's livelihoods while protecting people's lives and safety.

Lee pledged to make the Korean Peninsula peaceful, co-existing and stable by trying to find a way for co-existence, co-prosperity and dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Before the speech, the People Power Party's candidate told reporters at his party's building that he humbly accepted the people's choice, making concessions of his defeat in the presidential by-election.

He congratulated Lee on the presidential victory, expressing gratitude to conservative supporters.

The presidential race was one-sided as the snap election was caused by the removal of former conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol from office over his botched martial law bid last December.

Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon, then candidate of the People Power Party, by the country's narrowest margin of 0.73 percentage points.

Lee's sweeping victory mirrored people's rising aspiration for a better life both materially and emotionally as he set his administration's goals on material affluence and emotional well-being.

To achieve better material prosperity, Lee pledged to intensively foster new growth industries, especially artificial intelligence (AI), by expanding the government's relevant budget and inducing private investment.

Lee vowed to make the country one of the world's top three AI powerhouses by taking a strategy of "first mover," rather than "fast follower" that had been traditionally adopted by South Korean companies.

For emotional well-being, Lee pledged that he will make the country safer from various disasters and accidents.

Lee also vowed to reform the military, the prosecution, the judiciary, while expanding the social safety net for merchants and microbusiness owners, curtailing medical expenses, strengthening labor rights and speeding up the transition to renewable energy.

The elected president will have no transition period following a win in the presidential by-election.

Lee was widely forecast to appoint part of the presidential staff later Wednesday, while naming a prime minister in the near future.

The cabinet can be formed when the prime minister suggests ministers to Lee who will confirm the proposals. The prime minister is required to be subject to the parliamentary hearing.

Voter turnout reached 79.4 percent, marking the highest in 28 years since the voting rate recorded 80.7 percent in 1997.

Out of about 44.39 million eligible voters, some 35.24 million cast their ballots at 14,295 polling stations across the country.

The voter turnout, which included those who participated in early voting last Thursday and Friday, was up from 77.1 percent tallied in the previous presidential election in 2022.