With the threat of coronavirus looming, South Korea held its presidential elections on Wednesday amid strict safety guidelines. The Guardian reports, President Moon Jae-in arrived at a polling station wearing a mask, and was not allowed to vote until he had passed a temperature test, washed his hands and put on plastic gloves.

About 14,000 polling stations were open at 6am (21:00 GMT on Tuesday) around the country after disinfection according to Al Jazeera, and voters were required to wear a mask and have their temperature checked on arrival. Anyone whose temperature was higher than 37.5 Celsius was led to a special booth.

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Despite the pandemic scare, it is reported that the virus has failed to deter voters, with predictions of a record turnout by the time all the votes for the 300-seat national assembly have been cast on Wednesday evening. On Friday, more than 5 million people cast their ballots early – a record high since advance voting was introduced seven years ago.

The election will decide control of parliament, and public mandate on President Moon Jae-in’s ability to push through his agenda in the final two years of his administration, including a minimum wage, policies aimed at creating jobs, and continued re-engagement with North Korea.

South Korea is one of the first countries in the world to hold a national election since the coronavirus epidemic began, with many others postponing votes.

South Korea has won praise from the World Health Organization for its successful flattening of the curve, with more than a dozen world leaders seeking Seoul’s advice on quarantine measures and requesting test kits. Nearly 60% of survey respondents approved of Moon’s response to the pandemic, which included aggressive testing, monitoring, social distancing and strict quarantine for overseas arrivals.

The Guardian reports, the country’s response is expected to give Moon’s Democratic party of Korea an unexpected boost, after a year of political scandals and criticism of his record on jobs and young people’s living standards. His approval ratings reached a 16-month high last week, a poll by researchers at Realmeter showed, while his party’s popularity was 15% higher than the conservative main opposition United Future party.