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2008 South Korean legislative election

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2008 South Korean legislative election
← 2004 9 April 2008 2012 →
All 299 seats to the National Assembly
150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout46.08% (Decrease15.55pp; Const. votes)
46.08% (Decrease15.55pp; PR votes)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Kang Jae-seop Son Hak-gyu Suh Chung-won
Party Grand National United Democratic Pro-Park
Last election 121 seats[a] 161 seats[b] Did not exist
Seats won 153 81 14
Seat change Increase32 Decrease80 New
Constituency vote 8,145,824 4,977,508 637,351
% and swing 43.45% (Increase5.55pp) 28.92% (Decrease20.16pp) 3.70% (New)
Regional vote 7,478,776 4,313,111 2,258,750
% and swing 37.48% (Increase1.71pp) 25.18% (Decrease21.05pp) 13.18% (New)
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Lee Hoi-chang Chon Young-sae
Party Liberty Forward Democratic Labor
Last election Did not exist 10 seats
Seats won 18 5
Seat change New Decrease5
Constituency vote 984,751 583,665
% and swing 5.72% (New) 3.39% (Decrease0.92pp)
Regional vote 1,173,463 973,445
% and swing 6.85% (New) 5.68% (Decrease7.35pp)
Speaker before election

Lim Chae-jung
Uri

Elected Speaker

Kim Hyong-o
Grand National

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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

[edit]
See also: Legislative elections in South Korea

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

[edit]
See also: List of political parties in South Korea
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

[edit]
Main article: List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2008–2012
5
81
3
18
14
153
25
PartyProportionalConstituencyTotal
seats		+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Grand National Party6,421,72737.48227,478,77643.45131153+32
United Democratic Party4,313,64525.18154,977,50828.926681–80
Pro-Park Alliance2,258,75013.188637,3513.70614New
Liberty Forward Party1,173,4636.854984,7515.721418New
Democratic Labor Party973,4455.683583,6653.3925–5
Creative Korea Party651,9933.81272,8030.4213+3
New Progressive Party504,4662.940229,5001.33000
Christian Party443,7752.5903,7200.02000
Party for Peaceful Unification and Family180,8571.060334,7151.9400New
Party for Displaced People and National Security93,5540.5501,1300.0100New
Socialist Party35,4960.21000
Party for Culture and Art33,9660.2000New
Party for Citizen17,6560.1000New
United Vocational Party16,6220.1008810.0100New
Neo-Future Party12,1220.0700New
People's Association for Salvation5130.0000New
Unification Party510.0000New
Independents1,907,32611.082525+23
Total17,131,537100.005417,212,690100.002452990
Valid votes17,131,53798.3717,212,69098.83
Invalid/blank votes284,3831.63202,9761.17
Total votes17,415,920100.0017,415,666100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,796,03546.0837,796,03546.08
Source: NEC, CLEA, IPU

By region

[edit]
Region Seats Electorate Turnout % Party Constituency Proportional
Votes % Seats Votes %
Seoul 48 8,078,345 3,701,619 45.8 Grand National Party 1,834,534 51.2 40 1,473,477
United Democratic Party 1,330,194 37.1 7 1,037,469
Liberty Forward Party 83,339 2.3 0 175,731
Democratic Labor Party 72,478 2.0 0 138,751
Pro-Park Alliance 68,861 1.9 0 382,814
Creative Korea Party 55,392 1.6 1 169,787
Others 138,563 3.9 0 285,353
Busan 18 2,841,445 1,218,303 42.9 Grand National Party 568,411 47.3 11 521,286
United Democratic Party 141,386 11.8 1 152,494
Pro-Park Alliance 110,940 9.2 0 270,393
Democratic Labor Party 51,075 4.3 0 63,243
Liberty Forward Party 33,102 2.8 0 62,238
Creative Korea Party 45,136
Others 296,269 24.7 6 82,984
Incheon 12 2,018,699 858,234 42.5 Grand National Party 407,846 48.0 9 335,252
United Democratic Party 268,622 31.6 2 207,480
Liberty Forward Party 40,791 4.8 0 51,609
Democratic Labor Party 29,316 3.4 0 48,937
Creative Korea Party 3,121 0.4 0 37,007
Pro-Park Alliance 91,792
Others 100,089 11.8 1 72,731
Daegu 12 1,899,679 857,041 45.1 Grand National Party 513,667 61.1 8 393,558
Pro-Park Alliance 132,443 15.7 3 276,790
Democratic Labor Party 15,097 1.8 0 27,366
Liberty Forward Party 22,893 2.7 0 33,437
United Democratic Party 6,466 0.8 0 41,649
Creative Korea Party 24,621
Others 150,784 17.9 1 47,769
Gwangju 8 1,034,393 438,379 42.4 United Democratic Party 281,182 64.7 7 304,789
Democratic Labor Party 33,602 7.7 0 40,550
Grand National Party 26,553 6.1 0 25,551
Liberty Forward Party 621 0.1 0 4,048
Creative Korea Party 16,917
Pro-Park Alliance 5,595
Others 92,599 21.3 1 35,500
Daejeon 6 1,101,299 499,193 45.3 Liberty Forward Party 198,355 40.0 5 169,358
Grand National Party 131,830 26.6 0 122,220
United Democratic Party 118,756 24.0 1 91,777
Pro-Park Alliance 21,896 4.4 0 42,670
Democratic Labor Party 4,207 0.8 0 19,109
Creative Korea Party 2,149 0.4 0 18,051
Others 18,532 3.7 0 29,884
Ulsan 6 812,693 371,834 45.8 Grand National Party 196,218 53.4 5 157,453
Democratic Labor Party 67,185 18.3 0 52,308
Pro-Park Alliance 20,347 5.5 0 68,728
United Democratic Party 8,309 2.3 0 34,295
Creative Korea Party 12,799
Liberty Forward Party 12,382
Others 75,209 20.5 1 29,348
Gyeonggi 51 8,290,855 3,626,666 43.7 Grand National Party 1,734,696 48.3 32 1,465,283
United Democratic Party 1,331,142 37.0 17 207,480
Pro-Park Alliance 136,810 3.8 1 51,609
Democratic Labor Party 100,374 2.8 0 48,937
Liberty Forward Party 86,620 2.4 0 169,682
Creative Korea Party 4,068 0.1 0 157,101
Others 201,036 5.6 1 1,480,584
Gangwon 8 1,166,766 600,692 51.5 Grand National Party 266,217 44.8 3 266,768
United Democratic Party 146,032 24.6 2 109,108
Liberty Forward Party 50,013 8.4 0 37,168
Democratic Labor Party 17,075 2.9 0 34,841
Creative Korea Party 1,647 0.3 0 21,455
Pro-Park Alliance 72,078
Others 113,022 19.0 3 44,589
North Chungcheong 8 1,151,531 567,437 49.3 Grand National Party 222,457 39.5 1 189,681
United Democratic Party 198,905 35.3 6 133,199
Liberty Forward Party 79,401 14.1 1 76,521
Pro-Park Alliance 20,275 3.6 0 68,800
Democratic Labor Party 12,849 2.3 0 31,717
Creative Korea Party 1,770 0.3 0 18,717
Others 27,195 4.8 0 38,940
South Chungcheong 10 1,542,618 744,018 48.2 Liberty Forward Party 341,041 46.4 8 273,564
Grand National Party 221,115 30.1 0 196,418
United Democratic Party 105,250 14.3 1 98,045
Pro-Park Alliance 11,209 1.5 0 52,283
Democratic Labor Party 7,855 1.1 0 34,052
Creative Korea Party 2,040 0.3 0 18,392
Others 46,971 6.4 1 51,307
North Jeolla 11 1,424,401 676,727 47.5 United Democratic Party 363,125 54.7 9 424,663
Grand National Party 47,528 7.2 0 61,091
Democratic Labor Party 8,344 1.3 0 49,047
Creative Korea Party 19,335
Pro-Park Alliance 15,493
Liberty Forward Party 10,847
Others 244,936 36.9 2 79,922
South Jeolla 12 1,496,888 748,744 50.0 United Democratic Party 454,274 61.8 9 486,790
Grand National Party 44,801 6.1 0 46,256
Democratic Labor Party 35,078 4.8 0 73,414
Liberty Forward Party 602 0.1 0 7,721
Creative Korea Party 16,805
Pro-Park Alliance 12,884
Others 200,396 27.3 3 83,879
North Gyeongsang 15 2,097,907 1,113,646 53.1 Grand National Party 594,105 54.3 9 579,285
Pro-Park Alliance 66,577 6.1 1 255,422
United Democratic Party 33,928 3.1 0 60,857
Liberty Forward Party 22,029 2.0 0 31,385
Democratic Labor Party 11,735 1.1 0 44,329
Creative Korea Party 25,521
Others 365,552 33.4 5 86,961
South Gyeongsang 17 2,424,602 1,171,689 48.3 Grand National Party 593,399 51.4 13 517,675
Democratic Labor Party 105,168 9.1 2 122,089
United Democratic Party 98,205 8.5 1 120,889
Liberty Forward Party 14,143 1.2 0 48,700
Creative Korea Party 4,765 0.4 0 39,335
Pro-Park Alliance 206,373
Others 339,467 29.4 1 144,318
Jeju 3 413,904 221,444 53.5 United Democratic Party 91,732 41.8 3 65,720
Grand National Party 75,399 34.4 0 70,473
Democratic Labor Party 12,227 5.6 0 21,718
Liberty Forward Party 7,399 3.4 0 9,072
Creative Korea Party 11,014
Pro-Park Alliance 3,080 1.4 0 26,741
Others 29,668 13.5 0 12,708
Source: Psephos

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Grand National Party
  2. ^ Uri Party and Democratic Party
  3. ^ Uri Party
  4. ^ Democratic Party

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "2008 Electoral Calendar". Maximiliano Herrera's Human Rights Site. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  2. ^ "Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea". Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  3. ^ Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout, The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on April 10, 2008
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