2008 South Korean legislative election

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 46.0%.[3]

2008 South Korean legislative election

9 April 2008
All 299 seats to the National Assembly 150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	46.1% (14.5 pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Kang Jae-seop Son Hak-gyu Lee Hoi-chang Party Grand National United Democratic Liberty Forward Leader since 11 July 2006 17 February 2008 1 February 2008 Leader's seat Daegu Seo-gu Jongno-gu (defeated) Hongseong Last election 121 seats, 35.8% 152 seats, 38.3% (As Uri) (MDP: 9 seats, 7.1%) New party Seats before 112 136 9 Seats won 153 81 18 Seat change 41 55 9 Popular vote 6,421,654 4,313,111 1,173,463 Percentage 37.4% 25.1% 6.8% Swing 1.6% 20.3% 0.0%
■ - GNP ■ - UDP ■ – LFP ■ – Pro-Park ■ - DLP ■ - CKP ■ - Others

Parties and Coalitions

As of April 9, 2008, there are 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)
  • United Democratic Party is now known as Democratic Party (민주당 Minju-dang).
• 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 Geun-hye Coalition (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 Labour 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)
• Renewal of 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 Labour Party as a reaction to nationalism after the 2007 presidential elections.

Results

↓
5	81	3	25	18	14	153
D L P	United Democratic Party	C K P	Ind.	L F P	Pro Park	Grand National Party

The national summary of votes and seats by party follow:

 Summary of the 9 April 2008 South Korean National Assembly election results[4]

Turnout 46.0%
Parties		Local seats	±	Block seats	±	Constituency votes	%	PR block votes	%	Total seats	±
	Grand National Party (한나라당) (GNP)	131	+31	22	+1	7,478,776	43.45%	6,421,727	37.48%	153	+32
	United Democratic Party^2 (통합민주당) (UDP)	66	-63	15	-8	4,977,508	28.92%	4,313,645	25.17%	81	-71
	Liberty Forward Party (자유선진당) (LFP)	14	+14	4	+4	984,751	5.72%	1,173,463	6.84%	18	+18
	Pro-Park Coalition (친박연대) (PRO-PARK)	6	+6	8	+8	637,351	3.70%	2,258,750	13.18%	14	+14
	Democratic Labor Party (민주노동당) (DLP)	2	±0	4	-4	583,665	3.39%	973,445	5.68%	5	-5
	Creative Korea Party (창조한국당) (CKP)	1	+1	2	+2	72,803	0.42%	651,993	3.80%	3	+3
	New Progressive Party (진보신당) (NPP)	0	±0	0	±0	229,500	1.33%	504,466	2.94%	0	±0
	Other parties	0	±0	0	±0	341,010	1.98%	834,048	4.83%	0	±0
	Independents	25	+23	—	—	1,907,326	11.08%	—	—	25	+23
Total		245		55		17,212,690	100.0%	17,131,537	100.0%	300
Ideology
	Conservative (GNP, LFP, PRO-PARK)	151	+51	34	+13	9,100,879	52.87%	9,853,940	57.50%	185	+64
	Liberal (UDP, CKP)	67	-67	17	-10	5,050,311	29.34%	7,965,638	27.28%	84	-79
	Progressive (DLP, NPP)	2	±0	4	-4	813,165	4.72%	1477911	8.62%	5	-5
Total		245		55		14,964,354	86.9%	16,297,489	95.1%	300

¹Later changed to Future Hope Alliance.

²Later changed to Democratic Party.

Election results (Total)

Seats prior to the election

Result by region

|Region	GNP	UDP	LFP	PGH-C	DLP	ROKP	Independent	Total
Seoul	40	7	-	-	-	1	-	48
Busan	11	1	-	1	-	-	5	18
Incheon	9	2	-	-	-	-	1	12
Daegu	8	-	-	3	-	-	1	12
Gwangju	-	7	-	-	-	-	1	8
Daejeon	-	1	5	-	-	-	-	6
Ulsan	5	-	-	-	-	-	1	6
Gangwon-do	3	2	-	-	-	-	3	8
Gyeonggi-do	32	17	-	1	-	-	1	51
South Gyeongsang	13	1	-	-	2	-	1	17
North Gyeongsang	9	-	-	1	-	-	5	15
South Jeolla	-	9	-	-	-	-	3	12
North Jeolla	-	9	-	-	-	-	2	11
South Chungcheong	-	1	8	-	-	-	1	10
North Chungcheong	1	6	1	-	-	-	-	8
Jeju	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	3
Proportional representation	22	15	4	8	3	2	-	54
Total	153	81	18	14	5	3	25	299

References

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".
3. Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout, The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on April 10, 2008
4. Psephos - Adam Carr. 9 April 2008.