Presidential and vice presidential elections were held in South Korea on 15 May 1956.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 The result was a victory for Syngman Rhee, who won 70.0% of the vote. Voter turnout was 94.4%.Nohlen et al., p464
Rhee, who at that time held a virtual monopoly on political power, was opposed by Shin Ik-hee and Cho Bong-am. Shin died before the election by disease, and Cho campaigned on a platform of peaceful reunification in opposition to Rhee's policy of "March North and unify Korea".Kim, H-A (2004). Korea's development under Park Chung Hee. RoutledgeCurzon, pp. 42–43. Cho exceeded expectations by receiving over 30% of the vote. Three years later, Cho was accused of violating the National Security Law and executed.Kim, p. 42.
Results President
By province and city Province/City Syngman Rhee Cho Bong-am Votes % Votes % Seoul205,25363.28119,12936.72Gyeonggi607,75777.14180,15022.86Gangwon644,69390.8165,2709.19North Chungcheong353,20186.1057,02613.90South Chungcheong530,53177.06157,97322.94North Jeolla424,67460.17281,06839.83South Jeolla741,62372.11286,78727.89North Gyeongsang621,53055.32501,91744.68South Gyeongsang830,49262.30502,50737.70Jeju86,68387.8611,98112.14 Total5,046,43769.99 2,163,808 30.01 Source: National Election Commission Vice president
By province and city Province/City Chang Myon Lee Ki-poong Lee Beom-seok Yun Chi-young Paeg Song-uk Yi Yun-yong Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Seoul451,03776.9095,45416.2721,5303.6712,4452.123,8020.652,2850.39Gyeonggi450,14044.90424,10442.3055,6215.5540,7204.0625,2162.526,7680.68Gangwon103,49313.56611,70480.1623,6123.0914,0461.847,0520.923,2250.42North Chungcheong159,31033.66245,21851.8128,2645.9714,4113.0424,7275.221,3470.28South Chungcheong374,20943.71364,75042.6051,5896.0329,0543.3931,8953.734,6750.55North Jeolla428,41051.04338,28340.3028,9543.4525,4303.0315,5961.862,7380.33South Jeolla529,34143.66549,27945.3033,8902.8025,9792.1470,6285.833,2940.27North Gyeongsang715,34254.35475,75436.1541,0373.1238,1882.9040,5443.085,3030.40South Gyeongsang778,90352.51623,40942.0330,2642.0438,2882.587,8990.534,5750.31Jeju22,46919.8977,54768.657,8186.922,7172.412,1961.942160.19 Total4,012,65446.43 3,805,502 44.03 317,579 3.67 241,278 2.79 230,555 2.67 34,926 0.40
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