1996 South Korean legislative election

1996 South Korean legislative election

← 1992 11 April 1996 2000 →

All 299 seats in the National Assembly
150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout63.91% (Decrease 7.95pp)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Kim Young-sam Kim Dae-jung
Party New Korea National Congress
Last election 149 seats[a]  –
Seats won 139 79
Seat change Decrease 10 New
Popular vote 6,783,730 4,971,961
Percentage 34.52% 25.30%
Swing Decrease 3.97pp New

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Kim Jong-pil Park Il
Chang Eul-byung
Party United Liberal Democrats United Democratic
Last election 32 seats[b] 97 seats[c]
Seats won 50 15
Seat change Increase 18 Decrease 82
Popular vote 3,178,474 2,207,695
Percentage 16.17% 11.23%
Swing Decrease 2.99pp Decrease 17.94pp


Speaker before election

Hwang Nak-joo
New Korea

Elected Speaker

Kim Soo-han
New Korea

Legislature
  • National Assembly
  • Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo (P)
  • Deputy Speaker Chung Jin-suk (P)

  • Members
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Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 April 1996.[1] The result was a victory for the New Korea Party, which won 139 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 63.9%. Although the New Korea Party remained the largest party in the National Assembly, it failed to win the majority.

Electoral system

Of the 299 seats, 253 were elected in single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were allocated via proportional representation at the national level. Proportional seats were only available to parties which won three percent of the national valid vote among seat-allocated parties and/or won five or more constituency seats.

Political parties

Parties Leader Ideology Seats Status
Last election Before election
New Korea Party[d] Kim Young-sam Conservatism
149 / 299
146 / 299
Government
National Congress for New Politics Cho Soon-hyung Liberalism Did not exist
52 / 299
Opposition
United Democratic Party Park Il
Chang Eul-byung
97 / 299
[e]
36 / 299
Opposition
United Liberal Democrats Kim Jong-pil Conservatism
31 / 299
[f]
29 / 299
Opposition
1 / 299
[g]

The governing New Korea Party (formerly the Democratic Liberal Party) of President Kim Young-sam, lost its absolute parliamentary majority. The election was held three years into President Kim's five year mandate.

The opposition National Congress for New Politics was formed by veteran opposition leader Kim Dae-jung and his supporters in the Democratic Party. Kim had retired from politics following his loss in the 1992 Presidential election but formed the new party after his return in 1995.

The right-wing United Liberal Democrats was led by former Prime Minister of South Korea Kim Jong-pil, a former ally of President Kim. He had been a member of the former ruling Democratic Liberal Party but broke with it after Kim's victory in 1992. It joined with Kim Dae Jung's opposition and formed coalition.

The United Democratic Party had once been the premier opposition party. It supported Kim Dae-jung's unsuccessful Presidential campaign in 1992 and was the largest opposition party in the outgoing National Assembly. However, following the defection of Kim and his supporters, the party was reduced to a minor force. It later merged to Kim Young-sam's party.

Results

79
15
139
50
16
PartyVotes%Seats
FPTPPRTotal+/–
New Korea Party6,783,73034.5212118139–10
National Congress for New Politics4,971,96125.30661379New
United Liberal Democrats3,178,47416.1741950+18
United Democratic Party2,207,69511.239615–82
Unified People of Non-faction Party177,0500.90000New
Great Korean Democratic Party3,1140.02000New
21st Century Korean Independence Party1,6930.01000New
Chinmin Party5710.00000New
Independents2,328,78511.8516016–5
Total19,653,073100.00253462990
Valid votes19,653,07397.67
Invalid/blank votes469,7262.33
Total votes20,122,799100.00
Registered voters/turnout31,488,29463.91
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city or province

Region Total
seats
Seats won
NKP NCNP ULD UDP Ind.
Seoul 47 27 18 0 1 1
Busan 21 21 0 0 0 0
Daegu 13 2 0 8 0 3
Incheon 11 9 2 0 0 0
Gwangju 6 0 6 0 0 0
Daejeon 7 0 0 7 0 0
Gyeonggi 38 18 10 5 3 2
Gangwon 13 9 0 2 2 0
North Chungcheong 8 2 0 5 0 1
South Chungcheong 13 1 0 12 0 0
North Jeolla 14 1 13 0 0 0
South Jeolla 17 0 17 0 0 0
North Gyeongsang 19 11 0 2 1 5
South Gyeongsang 23 17 0 0 2 4
Jeju 3 3 0 0 0 0
Constituency total 253 121 66 41 9 16
PR list 46 18 13 9 6 0
Total 299 139 79 50 15 16

Notes

  1. ^ as Democratic Liberal Party
  2. ^ Unification National Party and New Political Reform Party
  3. ^ as Democratic Party
  4. ^ as Democratic Liberal Party
  5. ^ as Democratic Party
  6. ^ Unification National Party
  7. ^ New Political Reform Party

References

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

External links

  • 1996 elections in South Korea Inter-Parliamentary Union