Another election, another demoralizing loss for South Korea’s Democratic Party. The results of Wednesday’s local elections were full of concerning numbers for Seoul’s liberals: They suffered defeats in 12 of 17 key mayoral and gubernatorial elections and five of seven legislative by-elections.

But one set of numbers should be of special concern: turnout among young women voters. 

Only 35.8% of women in their 20s and 41.9% of women in their 30s voted, relative to an overall turnout of 50.9%. Both demographics are down 15-20 points from the 2018 local elections, which the Democrats won convincingly. 

In most electoral democracies,