Politics of South Korea - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

For other political parties see Political parties in South Korea. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in South Korea.

South Korea elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly (Gukhoe) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 244 members in single-seat constituencies and 56 members by proportional representation.

The main political parties in South Korea are the Democratic United Party, the Saenuri Party, the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and the Liberty Forward Party (LFP). The conservative Saenuri Party and the more liberal Democrats are the dominant forces of South Korean politics. The socialist UPP is aligned with labour unions and farmers' groups.


e • d Summary of the 19 December 2007 South Korean presidential election results
Candidate Party Votes %
Lee Myung-bak Grand National Party 11,492,389 48.7
Chung Dong-young United New Democratic Party 6,174,681 26.1
Lee Hoi-chang Independent 3,559,963 15.1
Moon Kook-hyun Creative Korea Party 1,375,498 5.8
Kwon Young-ghil Democratic Labor Party 712,121 3.0
Lee In-je Centrist Reformists Democratic Party 160,708 0.7
Huh Kyung-young Economic Republican Party 96,756 0.4
Geum Min Korea Socialist Party 18,223 0.1
Total (turnout 62.9%) 23,732,854 100.0
Source: NEC (National Election Commission)
e • d Summary of the 11 April 2012 South Korean National Assembly election results
Ideology and parties Local seats +/− Block seats +/− Constituency votes % PR block votes % Total seats +/-
Saenuri Party (NFP) Saenuri-dang, 새누리당1 127 -10 25 -5 9,324,911 43.3% 9,129,226 42.8% 152 -15
Liberty Forward Party (LFP) Jayu Seonjin-dang, 자유선진당 3 -11 2 -2 474,001 2.2% 689,843 3.2% 5 -13
Korea Vision Party (KVP) Gungmin Saenggak, 국민생각 0 ±0 0 ±0 44,379 0.2% 156,222 0.7% 0 ±0
Conservative 130 -21 27 -7 9,843,291 45.7% 9,975,291 46.7% 157 -28
Democratic United Party (DUP) Minju Tonghap-dang, 민주통합당 106 +40 21 +6 8,156,045 37.9% 7,775,737 36.5% 127 +46
Creative Korea Party (CKP) Changjo Hanguk-dang, 창조한국당 0 -1 0 -2 3,624 0.0% 91,875 0.4% 0 -3
Liberal 106 +39 21 +4 8,159,669 37.9% 7,867,612 36.9% 127 +43
Unified Progressive Party (UPP) Tonghap Jinbo-dang, 통합진보당 7 +5 6 +3 1,291,306 6.0% 2,198,082 10.3% 13 +8
New Progressive Party (NPP) Jinbo Sin-dang, 진보신당 0 ±0 0 ±0 101,614 0.5% 242,995 1.1% 0 ±0
Progressive 7 +5 6 +3 1,392,920 6.5% 2,441,077 11.4% 13 +8
Other parties 0 ±0 0 ±0 132,709 0.6% 1,043,620 5.0% 0 ±0
Independents 3 -22 2,016,737 9.4% 3 -22
- Total (turnout 54.3%) 246 54 21,545,326 100.0% 21,327,600 100.0% 300

1 Comparison includes members elected in 2008 for the Pro-Park Coalition

Read more about this topic:  Politics Of South Korea

Famous quotes containing the words political, parties and/or elections:

    All over this land women have no political existence. Laws pass over our heads that we can not unmake. Our property is taken from us without our consent. The babes we bear in anguish and carry in our arms are not ours.
    Lucy Stone (1818–1893)

    A true Friendship is as wise as it is tender. The parties to it yield implicitly to the guidance of their love, and know no other law nor kindness.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
    Gore Vidal (b. 1925)