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1985 South Korean legislative election

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1985 South Korean legislative election

← 1981 12 February 1985 1988 →

All 276 seats to the National Assembly
139 seats needed for a majority
Turnout84.57% (Increase 6.83pp)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Chun Doo-hwan Lee Min-woo
Party Democratic Justice New Korean Democratic
Last election 151 seats Did not exist
Seats won 148 67
Seat change Decrease 3 New
Popular vote 7,040,811 5,843,827
Percentage 35.25% 29.26%
Swing Decrease 0.39pp New

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Yu Chi-song Kim Jong-cheol
Party Democratic Korea National
Last election 81 25
Seats won 35 20
Seat change Decrease 46 Decrease 5
Popular vote 3,930,966 1,828,744
Percentage 19.68% 9.16%
Swing Decrease 1.87pp Decrease 4.09pp

Speaker before election

Chae Mun-shik
Democratic Justice

Elected Speaker

Lee Jae-hyung
Democratic Justice

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 February 1985.[1] The result was a victory for the Democratic Justice Party, which won 148 of the 276 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 84.6%.

Electoral system

[edit]

Of the 276 seats, 184 were elected in two-member constituencies via single non-transferable vote, while the remainder were allocated via proportional representation at the national level among parties that won five or more seats in constituencies. Two-thirds of those seats would be awarded to the top party (which was then eliminated from further consideration for national seats), with the remainder allocated based on vote share.

Political parties

[edit]
Parties Leader Ideology Seats Status
Last election Before election
Democratic Justice Party Chun Doo-hwan Conservatism
151 / 276
149 / 276
Government
Democratic Korea Party Yu Chi-song Liberalism
81 / 276
59 / 276
Opposition
New Korean Democratic Party Lee Min-woo Did not exist
32 / 276
Opposition
Korean National Party Kim Jong-cheol Conservatism
25 / 276
24 / 276
Opposition
New Socialist Party
2 / 276
[a]
1 / 276
Opposition
2 / 276
[b]
Civil Rights Party
2 / 276
0 / 276
Opposition
Democratic Farmer's Party
1 / 276
Dissolved Opposition
Liberal National Party
1 / 276
[c]
0 / 276
Opposition

The ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP) of President Chun Doo-hwan managed to remain the largest party in the National Assembly but faced a tougher challenge from the united opposition.

The New Korean Democratic Party (NKDP) was formed by former members of the New Democratic Party, notably opposition leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam despite being still barred from running. The party made strong gains across the country, largely thanks to its focus on greater democratic rights.

The Korean National Party had been formed by former members of the Democratic Republican Party in the run-up to the 1981 elections. After making some key gains, the party lost ground in these elections, largely thanks to the gains of the NKDP.

The opposition Democratic Korea Party had been the premier opposition party following the 1981 elections, but it suffered major defections to the NKDP.

Results

[edit]
1
1
35
67
20
148
4
PartyVotes%Seats
FPTPPRTotal+/–
Democratic Justice Party7,040,81135.258761148–3
New Korean Democratic Party5,843,82729.26501767New
Democratic Korea Party3,930,96619.6826935–46
Korean National Party1,828,7449.1615520–5
New Socialist Party288,8631.45101New
Workers and Farmers Party185,8590.93000New
New Democratic Party112,6540.56101New
Civil Rights Party75,6340.38000–2
National Group Party17,2570.09000New
Independents650,0283.25404–7
Total19,974,643100.00184922760
Valid votes19,974,64398.46
Invalid/blank votes312,0291.54
Total votes20,286,672100.00
Registered voters/turnout23,987,83084.57
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

[edit]
Region Total
seats
Seats won
DJP NKDP DKP KNP NSP NDP Ind.
Seoul 28 13 14 1 0 0 0 0
Busan 12 3 6 2 1 0 0 0
Daegu 6 2 2 1 1 0 0 0
Incheon 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
Gyeonggi 20 10 4 3 3 0 0 0
Gangwon 12 6 0 1 4 0 0 1
North Chungcheong 8 4 2 1 1 0 0 0
South Chungcheong 16 8 4 4 0 0 0 0
North Jeolla 14 7 2 1 3 0 1 0
South Jeolla 22 11 5 5 0 1 0 0
North Gyeongsang 20 10 4 3 1 0 0 2
South Gyeongsang 20 10 5 4 1 0 0 0
Jeju 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Constituency total 184 87 50 26 15 1 1 4
PR list 92 61 17 9 5 0 0 0
Total 276 148 67 35 20 1 1 4

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 ISBN 0-19-924959-8