1960 South Korean parliamentary election

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1960 South Korean parliamentary election
Flag of South Korea (1949-1984).svg
  1958 29 June 1960 1963  
House of Representatives

All 233 seats in the House of Representatives
117 seats needed for a majority
Turnout84.35% (Decrease2.svg 3.45pp)
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
Democratic Chang Myon 41.71175+96
Socialist Mass Party Seo Sang-il 5.964New
Liberal Cho Gyeong-gyu 2.752-124
Socialist 0.641New
Unification 0.191+1
Other parties 1.651+1
Independents 46.8149+22
Republic of Korea legislative election 1960 districts result.png
Results by constituency
House of Councillors

All 58 seats in the House of Councillors
30 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
Democratic Chang Myon 51.4131New
Liberal Cho Gyeong-gyu 6.124New
Socialist Mass Party Seo Sang-il 1.371New
Socialist 1.271New
Others1.771New
Independents 38.0720New

Parliamentary elections were held in South Korea on 29 June 1960. [1] They were the first and only direct elections of the Second Republic and saw the first election of members of the new House of Councillors, together with the fifth election of members of the House of Representatives. They were also the first relatively free and fair national elections held in the country, but would be the last free elections until the 1987 presidential elections. Voter turnout was 84.3%.

Contents

The elections took place after President Rhee Syngman amended the constitution and won a third term in the uncontested March 1960 presidential election, which prompted the pro-democracy April Revolution and removed Rhee from power.

The Democratic Party, which had been the opposition party under former President Rhee, received the most votes (42%) in the House of Representatives election, winning 175 of 233 seats, while its 51% vote share in the House of Councillors elections saw it win 31 of the 58 seats. It was the first time that a liberal party won an election in South Korea, but the Democratic Party and its liberal successors would not win an election again until the 1997 presidential election and would not win a legislative election until 2004. Independent politicians received a significant portion of the vote, with 47% of the vote in the House of Representatives elections and 38% of the vote in the House of Councillors elections.

The government formed after the elections was overthrown within less than a year by Park Chung-hee in a coup on 16 May 1961. Park subsequently re-established the presidential system under a military government and served as president of South Korea from 1962 to 1979.

Electoral system

The members of the House of Representatives were elected via first-past-the-post voting. Members of the House of Councillors were elected via partial block voting in constituencies of between two and eight seats corresponding to the provinces and Seoul, where voters could cast ballots for up to half of the candidates running in their constituency.

Results

House of Representatives

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Democratic Party 3,786,40141.71175+96
Socialist Mass Party 541,0215.964New
Liberal Party 249,9602.752–124
Korea Socialist Party 57,9650.641New
Korea Independence Party 26,6490.290New
Unification Party 17,2930.1910
Other parties149,3661.651
Independents4,249,18046.8149+22
Total9,077,835100.002330
Valid votes9,077,83592.83
Invalid/blank votes701,0867.17
Total votes9,778,921100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,593,43284.35
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

RegionTotal
seats
Seats won
DP SMP LP SPUPOtherInd.
Seoul 1615000001
Gyeonggi 25140000011
Gangwon 2012110006
North Chungcheong 139000013
South Chungcheong 2218000004
North Jeolla 2418100005
South Jeolla 3229000102
North Gyeongsang 3828100009
South Gyeongsang 4031110007
Jeju 31001001
Total2331754211149

House of Councillors

PartyVotes%Seats
Democratic Party 5,491,52751.4131
Liberal Party 653,7486.124
Socialist Mass Party 146,0591.371
Korea Socialist Party 135,1601.271
Other parties188,7921.771
Independents4,067,34338.0720
Total10,682,629100.0058
Registered voters/turnout11,593,432
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

RegionTotal
seats
Seats won
DP LP SMPSPOtherInd.
Seoul 6400002
Gyeonggi 6310002
Gangwon 4300001
North Chungcheong 4310000
South Chungcheong 6211002
North Jeolla 6400002
South Jeolla 8410003
North Gyeongsang 8300104
South Gyeongsang 8400013
Jeju 2100001
Total5831411120

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References

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