2008 South Korean legislative election
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All 299 seats to the National Assembly 150 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 46.08% (15.55pp; Const. votes) 46.08% (15.55pp; PR votes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legislative elections were held in South Korea on April 9, 2008.[1] The conservative Grand National Party won 153 of 299 seats while the main opposition United Democratic Party won 81 seats.[2] This election marked the lowest-ever voter turnout of 46%.[3]
Electoral system
The election was held under parallel voting, with 245 members elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting and the remainder elected via proportional representation. Proportional seats were only available to parties which one three percent of the national valid vote among seat-allocated parties and/or won five or more constituency seats.
Political parties
Parties | Leader | Ideology | Seats | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Last election | Before election | |||||
United Democratic Party | Han Myeong-sook | Liberalism | 152 / 299 [c]
|
141 / 299 |
Government | |
9 / 299 [d]
| ||||||
Grand National Party | Kang Jae-seop | Conservatism | 121 / 299 |
117 / 299 |
Opposition | |
United Liberal Democrats | Kim Nak-seong | 4 / 273 |
Dissolved | |||
Liberty Forward Party | Lee Hoi-chang | Did not exist | 10 / 299 | |||
Democratic Labor Party | Kwon Young-ghil | Progressivism | 10 / 299 |
7 / 299 | ||
Pro-Park Alliance | Suh Chung-won | Conservatism | Did not exist | 3 / 299 | ||
Creative Korea Party | Han Myeon-hee | Centrist reformism | Did not exist | 1 / 299 |
As of April 9, 2008, there were six political parties represented in the 18th National Assembly of South Korea, in addition to independents:
- Grand National Party (한나라당, Hannara-dang), led by Kang Jae-seop. The current major conservative party within the National Assembly. (153 seats won)
- United Democratic Party (통합민주당, Tongham Minju-dang), led by Son Hak-gyu. The current major liberal party within the National Assembly. (81 seats won)
- Liberty Forward Party (자유선진당, Jayu Seonjin-dang), led by Lee Hoi-chang. The Chungcheong Region-strongholder and current second conservative party within the National Assembly against the GNP. (18 seats won)
- Pro-Park Alliance (친박연대, Chin-bak Yeon-dae), led by Seo Cheong-won, although their inspirational leader is former GNP leader Park Geun-hye. A conservative coalition with Park Geun-hye within the National Assembly that broke away from the GNP after a dispute on the GNP's candidate nomination, which happened just before the election. (14 seats won)
- Democratic Labor Party (민주노동당, Minju Nodong-dang), led by Chun Young-se. A minor but the most progressive party within the 18th National Assembly, against both the Grand Nationals and Democrats. (5 seats won)
- Creative Korea Party (창조한국당, Changjo Hanguk-dang), led by Moon Kook-hyun. A minor but pro-environmental liberal party within the National Assembly, against the Grand Nationals. (3 seats won)
- (no seats) The New Progressive Party (진보신당) Jinbo Shin-dang), led by Sim Sang-jeong and Roh Hoe-chan, won 2.94% votes but not enough to gain any seats. The New Progressive Party split from the Democratic Labor Party as a reaction to nationalism after the 2007 presidential elections.
Results
Party | Proportional | Constituency | Total seats | +/– | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
Grand National Party | 6,421,727 | 37.48 | 22 | 7,478,776 | 43.45 | 131 | 153 | +32 | |
United Democratic Party | 4,313,645 | 25.18 | 15 | 4,977,508 | 28.92 | 66 | 81 | –80 | |
Pro-Park Alliance | 2,258,750 | 13.18 | 8 | 637,351 | 3.70 | 6 | 14 | New | |
Liberty Forward Party | 1,173,463 | 6.85 | 4 | 984,751 | 5.72 | 14 | 18 | New | |
Democratic Labor Party | 973,445 | 5.68 | 3 | 583,665 | 3.39 | 2 | 5 | –5 | |
Creative Korea Party | 651,993 | 3.81 | 2 | 72,803 | 0.42 | 1 | 3 | +3 | |
New Progressive Party | 504,466 | 2.94 | 0 | 229,500 | 1.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Christian Party | 443,775 | 2.59 | 0 | 3,720 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Party for Peaceful Unification and Family | 180,857 | 1.06 | 0 | 334,715 | 1.94 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Party for Displaced People and National Security | 93,554 | 0.55 | 0 | 1,130 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Socialist Party | 35,496 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Party for Culture and Art | 33,966 | 0.20 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Party for Citizen | 17,656 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
United Vocational Party | 16,622 | 0.10 | 0 | 881 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Neo-Future Party | 12,122 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
People's Association for Salvation | 513 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Unification Party | 51 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Independents | 1,907,326 | 11.08 | 25 | 25 | +23 | ||||
Total | 17,131,537 | 100.00 | 54 | 17,212,690 | 100.00 | 245 | 299 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 17,131,537 | 98.37 | 17,212,690 | 98.83 | |||||
Invalid/blank votes | 284,383 | 1.63 | 202,976 | 1.17 | |||||
Total votes | 17,415,920 | 100.00 | 17,415,666 | 100.00 | |||||
Registered voters/turnout | 37,796,035 | 46.08 | 37,796,035 | 46.08 | |||||
Source: NEC, CLEA, IPU |
By city/province
Region | GNP | UDP | Pro-Park | LFP | DLP | CKP | Ind. | Total seats | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seats | % | Seats | % | Seats | % | Seats | % | Seats | % | Seats | % | Seats | ||
Seoul | 40 | 51.2 | 7 | 37.1 | 0 | 1.9 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 2.0 | 1 | 1.6 | 0 | 48 |
Busan | 11 | 47.3 | 1 | 11.8 | 1 | 9.2 | 0 | 2.8 | 0 | 4.3 | – | 5 | 18 | |
Daegu | 8 | 61.1 | 0 | 0.8 | 3 | 15.7 | 0 | 2.7 | 0 | 1.8 | – | 1 | 12 | |
Incheon | 9 | 48.0 | 2 | 31.6 | – | 0 | 4.8 | 0 | 3.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 1 | 12 | |
Gwangju | 0 | 6.1 | 7 | 64.7 | – | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 7.7 | – | 1 | 8 | ||
Daejeon | 0 | 26.6 | 1 | 24.0 | 0 | 4.4 | 5 | 40.0 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.4 | 0 | 6 |
Ulsan | 5 | 53.4 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 5.5 | – | 0 | 18.3 | – | 1 | 6 | ||
Gyeonggi | 32 | 48.3 | 17 | 37.0 | 1 | 3.8 | 0 | 2.4 | 0 | 2.8 | 0 | 0.1 | 1 | 51 |
Gangwon | 3 | 44.8 | 2 | 24.6 | – | 0 | 8.4 | 0 | 2.9 | 0 | 0.3 | 3 | 8 | |
North Chungcheong | 1 | 39.5 | 6 | 35.3 | 0 | 3.6 | 1 | 14.1 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 8 |
South Chungcheong | 0 | 30.1 | 1 | 14.3 | 0 | 1.5 | 8 | 46.4 | 0 | 1.1 | 0 | 0.3 | 1 | 10 |
North Jeolla | 0 | 7.2 | 9 | 54.7 | – | – | 0 | 1.3 | – | 2 | 11 | |||
South Jeolla | 0 | 6.1 | 9 | 61.8 | – | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 4.8 | – | 3 | 12 | ||
North Gyeongsang | 9 | 54.3 | 0 | 3.1 | 1 | 6.1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 1.1 | – | 5 | 15 | |
South Gyeongsang | 13 | 51.4 | 1 | 8.5. | – | 0 | 1.2 | 2 | 9.1 | 0 | 0.4 | 1 | 17 | |
Jeju | 0 | 34.4 | 3 | 41.8 | 0 | 1.4 | 0 | 3.4 | 0 | 5.6 | – | 0 | 3 | |
Total | 131 | 43.5 | 66 | 28.9 | 6 | 3.7 | 14 | 5.7 | 2 | 3.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 25 | 245 |
Region | GNP | UDP | Pro-Park | LFP | DLP | CKP | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seoul | 40.2 | 28.3 | 10.4 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 7.8 |
Busan | 43.5 | 12.7 | 22.6 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 6.9 |
Daegu | 46.6 | 4.9 | 32.7 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 5.7 |
Incheon | 39.7 | 24.6 | 10.9 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 8.6 |
Gwangju | 5.9 | 70.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 9.4 | 3.9 | 8.2 |
Daejeon | 24.8 | 18.6 | 8.7 | 34.3 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 6.1 |
Ulsan | 42.9 | 9.3 | 18.7 | 3.4 | 14.2 | 3.5 | 8.0 |
Gyeonggi | 40.9 | 26.4 | 11.4 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 7.3 |
Gangwon | 45.5 | 18.6 | 12.3 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 3.7 | 7.6 |
North Chungcheong | 34.0 | 23.9 | 12.3 | 13.7 | 5.7 | 3.4 | 7.0 |
South Chungcheong | 27.1 | 13.5 | 7.2 | 37.8 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.1 |
North Jeolla | 9.3 | 64.3 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 7.4 | 2.9 | 12.1 |
South Jeolla | 6.4 | 66.9 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 10.1 | 2.3 | 11.5 |
North Gyeongsang | 53.5 | 5.6 | 23.6 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 2.4 | 8.0 |
South Gyeongsang | 45.0 | 10.5 | 18.0 | 4.2 | 10.6 | 3.4 | 8.2 |
Jeju | 32.4 | 30.2 | 12.3 | 4.2 | 10.0 | 5.1 | 5.8 |
Overall total | 37.5 | 25.2 | 13.2 | 6.8 | 5.7 | 3.8 | 7.8 |
Seat allocation | 22 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Notes
References
- ^ "2008 Electoral Calendar". Maximiliano Herrera's Human Rights Site. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ "Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea". Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout, The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on April 10, 2008