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1988 South Korean legislative election

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1988 South Korean legislative election

← 1985 26 April 1988 1992 →

All 299 seats to the National Assembly
150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout75.77% (Decrease8.80pp)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Roh Tae-woo Park Yeong-suk
Party Democratic Justice Peace Democratic
Last election 148 seats Did not exist
Seats won 125 70
Seat change Decrease 23 New
Popular vote 6,670,494 3,783,279
Percentage 33.96% 19.26%
Swing Decrease 1.29pp New

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Kim Myeong-yun Kim Jong-pil
Party Reunification Democratic New Democratic Republican
Last election Did not exist Did not exist
Seats won 59 35
Seat change New New
Popular vote 4,680,175 3,062,506
Percentage 23.83% 15.59%
Swing New New

Speaker before election

Lee Jae-hyung
Democratic Justice

Elected Speaker

Kim Jae-soon
Democratic Justice

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 26 April 1988.[1] The result was a victory for the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP), which won 125 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 75.8%. This was the first time the ruling party did not win a majority in the National Assembly since 1960, the first free and fair elections in Korean history. In January 1990, the DJP merged with other two opposition parties, leaving the Kim Dae-jung-led Peace Democratic Party to be the sole opposition party.

Electoral system

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Of the 299 seats, 224 were elected in single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were allocated via proportional representation at the national level among parties that won five or more seats in constituencies. One-half 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

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Parties Leader Ideology Seats Status
Last election Before election
Democratic Justice Party Roh Tae-woo Conservatism
149 / 276
160 / 276
Government
Reunification Democratic Party Kim Myeong-yun Liberalism Did not exist
50 / 276
Opposition
Peace Democratic Party Park Yeong-suk
22 / 276
Opposition
New Democratic Republican Party Kim Jong-pil Conservatism
9 / 276
Opposition
Democratic Korea Party Yu Chi-song Liberalism
59 / 276
0 / 276
Opposition
New Korean Democratic Party Shin Do-hwan
32 / 276
0 / 276
Opposition
Korean National Party Lee Man-sup Conservatism
25 / 276
0 / 276
Opposition
New Socialist Party Socialism
1 / 276
Dissolved Opposition
New Democratic Party Ryu Gap-jong Liberalism
1 / 276
Dissolved Opposition

The governing Democratic Justice Party (DJP) had recently elected President Roh Tae-woo. While remaining the largest party, the DJP lost its absolute parliamentary majority. The party was hindered by a stronger opposition and the unpopularity of former party leader and President Chun Doo-hwan.

The opposition Peace Democratic Party led by veteran opposition leader Kim Dae-jung became the second largest party, winning more seats than another opposition Reunification Democratic Party (RDP). This was vindication for Kim Dae-jung, who came had come third in the 1987 South Korean presidential election. However, the election also showed the party's limitations, coming in as third place after DJP and RDP in popular vote and only winning seats in the Honam and Sudogwon, and nowhere outside of them.

For Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party the election was a major setback, winning third most seats in the parliament. This was after Kim had placed second in the first democratic presidential election, just ahead of Kim Dae-jung.

The New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP) led by former prime Minister Kim Jong-pil came a distant fourth. However, thanks to the failure of the DJP to win an absolute majority, the oppositions emerged as the major powerbrokers in the new National Assembly.

In January 1990, the DJP merged with the parties of Kim Young-sam and Kim Jong-pil to form the Democratic Liberal Party, with the former becoming its nominee in the 1992 presidential elections.

There were 224 constituency seats and 75 at large seats elected from lists in proportion to parties' share of constituency seats.

Results

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1
70
59
35
125
9
PartyVotes%Seats
FPTPListTotal+/–
Democratic Justice Party6,670,49433.968738125–23
Reunification Democratic Party4,680,17523.83461359New
Peace Democratic Party3,783,27919.26541670New
New Democratic Republican Party3,062,50615.5927835New
Hankyoreh Democratic Party251,2361.28101New
People's Party65,6500.33000New
Korean National Party65,0320.33000–20
New Korean Democratic Party46,8770.24000–67
Democratic Korea Party32,7990.17000–35
Korean Justice Party25,4330.13000New
The Third Generation Party16,1480.08000New
Hanist Reunification Korean Party3,7360.02000New
Unificational Socialist Party3,2670.02000New
Christian Holy People's Party2,2470.01000New
Independents933,1614.75909+5
Total19,642,040100.0022475299+23
Valid votes19,642,04098.95
Invalid/blank votes208,7751.05
Total votes19,850,815100.00
Registered voters/turnout26,198,20575.77
Source: IPU, Nohlen et al.

By city/province

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Region Total
seats
Seats won
DJP PDP RDP NDRP HDP Ind.
Seoul 42 10 17 10 3 0 2
Busan 15 1 0 14 0 0 0
Daegu 8 8 0 0 0 0 0
Incheon 7 6 0 1 0 0 0
Gwangju 5 0 5 0 0 0 0
Gyeonggi 28 16 1 4 6 0 1
Gangwon 14 8 0 3 1 0 2
North Chungcheong 9 7 0 0 2 0 0
South Chungcheong 18 2 0 2 13 0 1
North Jeolla 14 0 14 0 0 0 0
South Jeolla 18 0 17 0 0 1 0
North Gyeongsang 21 17 0 2 2 0 0
South Gyeongsang 22 12 0 9 0 0 1
Jeju 3 0 0 1 0 0 2
Constituency total 224 87 54 46 27 1 9
PR list 75 38 16 13 8 0 0
Total 299 125 70 59 35 1 9

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
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