Seoul, Feb 23 (IANS): Overseas voting for the March 9 South Korean presidential election kicked off on Wednesday for a six-day run, the country's National Election Commission (NEC) said.

A total of 226,162 overseas South Korean nationals, who are registered as absentee voters, will be eligible to vote at 219 polling stations set up by 177 overseas missions in 115 countries between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day, Yonhap News Agency quoted the NEC as saying.

Voting will not take place at the South Korean Embassy in Ukraine, however, given the escalating security crisis.

After overseas voting closes, sailors will cast their ballots aboard their ships from March 1-4.

Advance voting for anyone who wishes to vote early will be held nationwide on March 4-5.

The March 9 election will be the eighth since democratization.

Under the South Korean Constitution, the President is restricted to a single five-year term in office, which bars incumbent President Moon Jae-in to run for a second term.

The main contenders in the fray are the ruling Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung and the opposition People Power Party's Yoon Suk-yeol.

Also contesting the polls are Ahn Cheol-soo from the minor opposition People's Party, Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party, Huh Kyung-young of the National Revolutionary Party and Kim Dong-yeon of the New Wave.