1978 South Korean legislative election

1978 South Korean legislative election

←  1976 (appointed members) 12 and 21 December 1978 1981  →
154 of the 231 seats in the National Assembly 78 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	77.08% ( 5.72pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Park Chung-hee Yi Cheol-seung Yang il-dong Party Democratic Republican New Democratic Democratic Unification Last election 73 seats 52 seats 2 seats Seats won 68 61 3 Seat change 5 9 1 Popular vote 4,695,955 4,861,204 1,095,507 Percentage 31.70% 32.82% 7.39% Swing 6.98pp 0.27pp 2.75pp
Speaker before election Chung Il-kwon Democratic Republican Elected Speaker Baek Du-jin Presidential appointee

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 December 1978 to elect 154 members of the National Assembly. ^[1] Another 77 members appointed by President Park Chung-hee were indirectly elected by the National Conference for Unification on 21 December 1978. ^[2]

Despite garnering 169,000 fewer popular votes than the opposition New Democratic Party, the ruling Democratic Republican Party won a supermajority victory with 68 of the 154 elected seats in the National Assembly and an additional 77 members appointed by President Park. Voter turnout was 77.1%.

Electoral system

Two-thirds of the seats were elected from two-member constituencies via single non-transferable vote. The remaining one-third of the seats were presidential appointees, nominated by president Park and confirmed by the National Conference for Unification elected in May 1978.

Results

3 61 68 22 77
Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	New Democratic Party	4,861,204	32.82	61	+9
	Democratic Republican Party	4,695,995	31.70	68	–5
	Democratic Unification Party	1,095,057	7.39	3	+1
	Independents	4,160,187	28.09	22	+3
Presidential appointees				77	+4
Total		14,812,443	100.00	231	+12
Valid votes		14,812,443	98.60
Invalid/blank votes		210,927	1.40
Total votes		15,023,370	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		19,489,490	77.08
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region	Total seats	Seats won
		DRP	NDP	DUP	Ind.
Seoul	22	9	11	1	1
Busan	10	4	5	0	1
Gyeonggi	16	8	7	0	1
Gangwon	10	5	3	0	2
North Chungcheong	8	3	4	1	0
South Chungcheong	14	7	5	0	2
North Jeolla	12	6	4	0	2
South Jeolla	20	8	7	1	4
North Gyeongsang	22	9	8	0	5
South Gyeongsang	18	8	7	0	3
Jeju	2	1	0	0	1
Total	146	68	61	3	22

Presidential appointees

On 21 December 1978, the National Conference for Unification indirectly elected 77 members of the National Assembly appointed by President Park Chung-hee. Out of the 2,581 delegates, 2,573 were present with 2,539 of them approving the election of Park's appointees. ^[2]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
Presidential appointees		2,539	99.10	77
Against		23	0.90	–
Total		2,562	100.00	77
Valid votes		2,562	99.57
Invalid/blank votes		11	0.43
Total votes		2,573	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,581	99.69
Source: JoongAng Ilbo [2]

By city/province

Region	Votes			Delegates
	For	Against	Invalid	Voted	Absent	Total
Seoul	376	9	4	389	2	391
Busan	143	1	1	145	0	145
Gyeonggi	319	0	0	319	0	319
Gangwon	149	2	0	151	0	151
North Chungcheong	130	1	0	131	0	131
South Chungcheong	229	4	1	234	0	234
North Jeolla	200	1	0	201	2	203
South Jeolla	310	1	1	312	0	312
North Gyeongsang	373	2	1	376	3	379
South Gyeongsang	284	2	2	288	1	289
Jeju	26	0	1	27	0	27
Total	2,539	23	11	2,573	8	2,581
Source: Naver News Library [3]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 ISBN   0-19-924959-8
2. ""80년대엔 복지사회 기필코 이룩" 3기 유정의원 77명 선출". JoongAng Ilbo . 21 December 1978.
3. "三年制議員(삼년제의원)73명 大統領推薦(대통령추천)대로選出(선출)". Naver News Library.