Legislative elections were held in South Korea on April 9, 2008. The conservative Grand National Party won 153 of 299 seats while the main opposition United Democratic Party won 81 seats. This election marked the lowest-ever voter turnout of 46%.Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout, The Hankyoreh, Retrieved on April 10, 2008

Electoral system

The election was held under parallel voting, with 245 members elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting and the remainder elected via proportional representation. 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 United Democratic Party Han Myeong-sook Liberalism rowspan="2" Grand National Party Kang Jae-seop Conservatism rowspan="6" United Liberal Democrats Kim Nak-seong Dissolved Liberty Forward Party Lee Hoi-chang Did not exist Democratic Labor Party Kwon Young-ghil Progressivism Pro-Park Alliance Suh Chung-won Conservatism Did not exist Creative Korea Party Han Myeon-hee Centrist reformism Did not exist As of April 9, 2008, there were 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) 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 Alliance (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 Labor 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) Creative 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, 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 Labor Party as a reaction to nationalism after the 2007 presidential elections.

Results

By city/province + Constituency results by city/province Region GNP UDP LFP Pro-Park DLP PFP NPP CKP Pro-Park ind. Ind. Totalseats Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seoul 40 50.0 7 36.3 0 2.3 0 1.9 0 2.0 0 1.1 0 2.1 1 1.5 – 0 2.8 48 Busan 11 47.3 1 11.8 0 2.8 1 9.2 0 4.3 0 2.3 0 1.0 – 4 13.0 1 8.5 18 Daegu 8 61.1 0 0.8 0 2.7 3 15.7 0 1.8 0 3.4 0 2.3 – 1 5.2 0 6.9 12 Incheon 9 48.0 2 31.6 0 4.8 – 0 3.4 0 2.0 0 1.1 0 0.4 1 2.6 0 6.2 12 Gwangju 0 6.1 7 64.7 0 0.1 – 0 7.7 0 1.4 0 0.5 – – 1 19.4 8 Daejeon 0 24.8 1 25.7 5 40.0 0 4.4 0 0.8 0 1.0 – – – 0 3.2 6 Ulsan 5 53.4 0 2.3 – 0 5.5 0 18.3 0 2.1 0 5.6 – – 1 12.8 6 Gyeonggi 32 48.3 17 37.0 0 2.4 1 3.8 0 2.8 0 1.6 0 1.0 0 0.1 1 1.2 0 1.7 51 Gangwon 3 44.8 2 24.6 0 8.4 – 0 2.9 0 1.9 0 0.3 0 0.3 – 3 16.8 8 North Chungcheong 1 39.5 6 35.3 1 14.1 0 3.6 0 2.3 0 1.9 0 0.3 0 0.3 – 0 2.6 8 South Chungcheong 0 30.1 1 14.3 8 46.4 0 1.5 0 1.1 0 1.7 0 0.2 0 0.3 – 1 4.2 10 North Jeolla 0 7.2 9 54.7 0 0.7 – 0 1.3 0 2.9 0 1.0 – – 2 32.3 11 South Jeolla 0 6.1 9 61.8 0 0.1 – 0 4.8 0 3.6 0 0.4 – – 3 23.3 12 North Gyeongsang 9 54.3 0 3.1 0 2.0 1 6.1 0 1.1 0 2.7 0 0.8 – 4 16.9 1 13.0 15 South Gyeongsang 13 51.4 1 8.6 0 1.1 0 3.9 2 9.1 0 2.6 0 2.5 0 0.4 1 6.0 0 14.4 17 Jeju 1 34.3 3 41.8 0 3.4 0 1.4 0 5.6 0 1.3 – – – 0 12.2 3 Total 131 43.4 66 29.0 14 5.7 6 3.7 2 3.4 0 1.9 0 1.3 1 0.4 12 3.0 13 8.1 245

+ Party list vote results by city/province Region GNP UDP Pro-Park LFP DLP CKP Other Seoul 40.2 28.3 10.4 4.8 3.8 4.6 7.8 Busan 43.5 12.7 22.6 5.2 5.3 3.8 6.9 Daegu 46.6 4.9 32.7 4.0 3.2 2.9 5.7 Incheon 39.7 24.6 10.9 6.1 5.8 4.4 8.6 Gwangju 5.9 70.4 1.3 0.9 9.4 3.9 8.2 Daejeon 24.8 18.6 8.7 34.3 3.9 3.7 6.1 Ulsan 42.9 9.3 18.7 3.4 14.2 3.5 8.0 Gyeonggi 40.9 26.4 11.4 4.7 4.8 4.4 7.3 Gangwon 45.5 18.6 12.3 6.3 5.9 3.7 7.6 North Chungcheong 34.0 23.9 12.3 13.7 5.7 3.4 7.0 South Chungcheong 27.1 13.5 7.2 37.8 4.7 2.5 7.1 North Jeolla 9.3 64.3 2.3 1.6 7.4 2.9 12.1 South Jeolla 6.4 66.9 1.8 1.1 10.1 2.3 11.5 North Gyeongsang 53.5 5.6 23.6 2.9 4.1 2.4 8.0 South Gyeongsang 45.0 10.5 18.0 4.2 10.6 3.4 8.2 Jeju 32.4 30.2 12.3 4.2 10.0 5.1 5.8 Overall total 37.5 25.2 13.2 6.8 5.7 3.8 7.8 Seat allocation 22 15 8 4 3 2 0

Notes

References