Voters from all sections of South Korean society turned out to choose a successor to President Roh Moo-hyun, whose five-year term comes to an end in February.

Ruling party candidate Chung Dong-young (L) and independent Lee Hoi-chang (R) battled for votes with Lee Myung-bak, the eventual winner.

The election campaign saw plenty of customary party rallies and street-level enthusiasm from activists.

The main parties also increasingly used the web to get their message to younger voters.

The pandora.tv site even held a cookery contest between 12 candidates wives - won by Lee Myung-bak's spouse, Kim Yoon-Ok.

Some mixed traditional campaigning with new technology, broadcasting themselves dancing at rallies for their favoured candidate.

Despite the innovative campaigning, voter turnout was low. Because Lee Myung-bak was so far ahead in the polls, many people saw his victory as a foregone conclusion.