Elections in South Korea

Elections in South Korea are held on national level to select the President and the National Assembly. Local elections are held every four years to elect governors, metropolitan mayors, municipal mayors, and provincial and municipal legislatures.

The president is directly elected for a single five-year term by plurality vote. The National Assembly has 300 members elected for a four-year term, 253 in single-seat constituencies and 47 members by proportional representation. Each individual party willing to represent its policies in the National Assembly is qualified on the legislative (general) election if: i) the national party-vote reaches over 3% on proportional contest or ii) more than 5 members of the party are elected from each of their first-past-the-post election constituencies.[1]

Since the 2020 legislative elections, South Korea has two main parties, the centre-left liberal Democratic Party of Korea and the right-wing conservative United Future Party. In addition, there are currently two notable minor (non-aligned) parties: the liberal-conservative centrist Minsaeng Party & the progressive Justice Party.

Election Technology

South Korean ballots from 2010.

Polling places are usually located in schools. During the absentee or early voting period, voters can vote at any polling place in the country. On election day, voters may only vote at polling places in their registered constituency. Korean voters mark paper ballots with a rubber stamp using red ink. There is one race per ballot paper; if there are multiple office up for election, ballot papers are color coded and voters are issued one ballot per race.[2]

Korea uses a central count model. After the polls close, ballot boxes are sealed and transported to the constituency's counting center. Traditionally ballots were hand counted, and optical scanners have been adopted since 3rd local elections held on 13 June 2002. The scanners resemble cash sorter machines, sorting the ballots into stacks by how they are voted. Stacks are then counted using machines resembling currency counting machines.[3]

Korean elections have been praised as a model of best practice.[2] However, the legality of the introduction of optical scan technology has been challenged and there have been allegations of rigged counting.[3]

Schedule

Election

Position	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Type	Presidential (May)	Local (June)	None	National Assembly (April)	None	Local (June) Presidential (March)
President	President	None				President
National Assembly	None			All seats	None
Provinces, cities and municipalities	None	All positions	None			All positions

Inauguration

Position	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Type	Presidential (May)	Local (July)	None	National Assembly (May)	None	Local (July) Presidential (May)
President	May 10	None				May 10
National Assembly	None			May 30	None
Provinces, cities and municipalities	None	July 1	None			July 1

Latest elections

2017 presidential election

Main article: 2017 South Korean presidential election

2020 legislative election

In the 2020 South Korean legislative election the Democratic Party and its satellite, the Platform Party, won a landslide victory, taking 180 of the 300 seats (60%) between them. The Democratic Party alone won 163 seats — the highest number by any party since 1960. This guarantees the ruling liberal alliance an absolute majority in the legislative chamber, and the three-fifths super-majority required to fast-track its procedures. The conservative alliance between the United Future Party and its satellite Future Korea Party won only 103 seats, the worst conservative result since 1960.

2018 local election

Main article: 2018 South Korean local elections

Summary of past elections

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

Main article: Legislative elections in South Korea § Summary of past legislative elections

Local elections

• 2010 South Korean local elections
• 2014 South Korean local elections

See also

• History of South Korea
• Constitution of South Korea
• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• List of Korea-related topics

Notes

1. Representation System(Elected Person) Archived April 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, the NEC, Retrieved on April 10, 2008
2. Tim Meisburger, Korean Elections: A Model of Best Practice, April 20, 2016.
3. Oglim, The South Korean 2012 Presidential Election was Fraudulent, Feb. 21, 2013. (archived version.)

Further reading

• Nahm, A.C. (1996). Korea: A history of the Korean people (rev. ed.). Seoul: Hollym. ISBN 978-1-56591-070-6.
• Lee, Il-cheong (이일청) (1993). 인명국사대사전 (Inmyeong guksa daesajeon, Unabridged biographical dictionary of Korean history. Seoul: Goryeo Munhaksa.
• Lee, Ki-baik (1984). A new history of Korea (rev ed.). Seoul: Ilchokak. ISBN 978-89-337-0204-8.

External links

• Overview of candidates, parties and outcomes of South Korean elections since 1952 (with minor flaws like 이시영 missing in the 1952 page and wrong year of Park's resignation in the 1960 page)