Park Geun-hye of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party waves to supporters in Seoul, on Dec. 19, 2012. Park Geun-hye won the tightly contested presidential election held Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the country and extending the conservative rule for another five years.

SEOUL -- Park Geun-hye of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party won the tightly contested presidential election on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the country and extending the conservative rule for another five years.

With 89 percent of the vote counted, Park, the 60-year-old daughter of South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee, won 51.6 percent of the votes against her rival Moon Jae-in's 48 percent.

She is projected to become the first one to garner more than half of all votes cast since democratic elections were introduced here in 1987.

Voter turnout was estimated at 75.8 percent, the highest in 15 years, according to the National Election Commission.