Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 11 April 2012. The election was won by the ruling Saenuri or New Frontier Party, which renewed its majority in the National Assembly, despite losing seats. The election was read as a bellwether for the presidential election to be held later in the year. The result confounded exit polls and media analysis, which had predicted a closer outcome.Odds & Ends A Day After The Election. The Wall Street Journal, 12 April 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.

Background The South Korean National Assembly consists of 246 directly elected seats and 54 nationwide proportional representation seats chosen under an FPTP-PR parallel voting system. Proportional seats were only available to parties which one three percent of the national valid vote among seat-allocated parties and/or won five or more constituency seats. In South Korea's presidential system, the head of state controls the executive, but the loss of control in congress could have hampered President Lee's ability to govern alone.

Political parties

Parties Leader Ideology Seats Status Last election Before election Saenuri Party Park Geun-hye Conservatism rowspan="2" Democratic United Party Han Myeong-sook Liberalism Liberty Forward Party Lee Hoi-chang Conservatism Unified Progressive Party Lee Jung-heeRhyu Si-minSim Sang-jung Progressivism Creative Korea Party Han Myeon-hee Centrist reformism

Four parties won seats in the 2012 election: Saenuri Party (, Saenuri-dang), led by Park Geun-hye. The largest conservative party and incumbent government. Formerly name the Grand National Party,The South: Busy at the polls. Asia Times, 2 April 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012. the party was renamed in February after a period of internal crisis in which an Emergency Response Commission assumed control of the party.Ruling party`s emergency committee. The Dong-A Ilbo, 17 December 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2012.. Korea Joongang Daily, 3 February 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012. Democratic United Party (, Minju Tonghap-dang), led by Han Myeong-sook. The largest liberal party and principal opposition.South Korea's ruling party holds on to parliament. BBC News, 12 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.Left-wing alliance a double-edged sword for main opposition. The Korea Herald, 12 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012. Liberty Forward Party (, Jayu Seonjin-dang), led by Sim Dae-pyung. The second-largest conservative party with its primary support base in Chungcheong.D-6: Election Race Outside Capital Region . Arirang News, 11 April 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012. Unified Progressive Party (, Tonghap Jinbo-dang), led jointly by Rhyu Si-min, Lee Jung-hee, and Sim Sang-jeong.. Korea Joongang Daily, 1 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012. The largest left-progressive party.

Other parties that put forward candidates included the left-wing New Progressive Party and the centre-right Korea Vision Party.

The conservative parties were fragmented, particularly between Saenuri and the new KVP over the latter recruiting high-profile defected members of the incumbent party and those who were denied tickets in the election, which was also reflective of a division grew between Park's leadership and loyalists of Lee Myung-bak.Signs of conservatives' division deepen, The Korea Herald. 23 March 2012. However, the DUP–UPP coalition also came under strain due to irregularities in the UPP's primaries that involved co-leader Lee Jung-hee.Rift growing in opposition alliance, The Korea Herald. Retrieved 23 March 2012.

Campaign Campaigning for the election officially began on 29 March, though party leaders toured the country beforehand to rally support for their bids.. KBS, 26 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012. The international media suggested that the main issues in the campaign were economic, including inflation, educational and housing costs, unemployment and underemployment, the income gap, and social welfare, while the North Korean issue did not play a role.

The opposition DUP tried to harness discontent with the incumbent Lee's administration, and called on the electorate to adjudge the election as a referendum on Lee's presidency. The opposition coalition endeavored to depict the ruling party as unsocial and favoring the rich, while promising to create jobs. The incumbent government emphasised the threat of North Korea and made the case for continuing their hard line towards the northern neighbour and maintaining a close alliance with the United States. They accused the opposition of jeopardising the free trade agreement with the U.S. The DUP had demanded renegotiation of the treaty and threatened to cancel it in case of the United States' refusal to negotiate.

The international media highlighted the candidacy of Cho Myung-chul, a professor who defected from North Korea in 1994. In its newspaper Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean Workers' Party called on the electorate to vote out the incumbent government: "Young voters, students and people must deliver a crushing defeat to the traitors."

Scandals After accusations of unauthorized government surveillance surfaced, legislators called for an investigation, while the ruling party accused the previous government of doing the same. The presidential office published an analysis stating that 84% of the recorded incidents had taken place under the previous administration of Roh Moo-hyun.Exploitation of illegal surveillance scandal. The Dong-A Ilbo, 2 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012. A post-election analysis by polling institute Realmeter showed that the ruling party's handling of scandal was effective, and that the surveillance scandal didn't affect voters' decision much.여론조사 공표금지 기간 전후, 총선 다큐멘터리 10일. Realmeter, 23 April 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2012. A DUP candidate, , was also accused of having made numerous offensive comments on the podcast-talk-show Naneun Ggomsuda, for which he apologized but refused to rescind his candidacy, despite the DUP leadership advising him to do so. Kim subsequently failed to win his seat in the election.

Opinion polling Polls were barred in the final week of the election, just before indications suggested the two largest parties would get somewhere between 130 and 135 seats each. A high turnout, particularly with the youth, was seen as beneficial to the opposition.

Institute DateSaenuri(SP)Democratic United(DUP)Unified Progressive(UPP)Liberty Forward(LFP)Korea Vision(KVP)New Progressive(NPP) Realmeter 23 December 2011 31.2% 30.9% 6.1% 2.2% – 1.3% Realmeter 13 January 2012 29.5% 34.7% 3.2% 2.4% – 1.8% RealmeterRealmeter.net. Realmeter. Jan.25–27, 2012 30.3% 37.1% 4.0% 2.0% – 1.0% Realmeter Jan.30–Feb.2, 2012 32.9% 36.9% 3.9% 1.5% – 0.9% Realmeter Feb.6–10, 2012 33.9% 35.8% 4.2% 2.4% – 0.8% Hankyoreh / KSOI Feb.24–25, 2012 38.2% 32.9% 3.1% 1.7% 1.5% 1.1% Realmeter Feb.27–Mar.2, 2012 36.3% 36.3% 6.1% 1.7% 0.4% – Realmeter 5–9 March 2012 40.3% 32.7% 4.8% 2.3% – – KBS 10–11 March 2012 34.1% 35.4% 3.6% 1.7% – – Realmeter 12–16 March 2012 39.4% 33.7% 5.7% 2.3% – – Realmeter 19–23 March 2012 37.4% 33.3% 7.5% 2.1% – – Realmeter 26–30 March 2012 39.8% 30.5% 8.1% 2.3% – – Realmeter 28 March 2012 37.8% 30.5% 12.1% 2.3% 1.9% 1.6% Hankyoreh / KSOI 31 March 2012 38.3% 33.5% 7.2% 2.4% 0.3% 1.0% Research View 1 April 2012 42.3% 29.5% 9.7% 3.9% 1.1% 2.1%

Results

The voting centres were open from 6:00−18:00. Voting occurred via electronic ballot counting and scanning that gave an instantaneous result. Cho Myung-chul's successful candidature was the first time that one of the 23 thousand North Korean refugees living in the South was elected to the National Assembly.

By city/province + Constituency results by city/province Region Saenuri DUP UPP LFP Ind. Totalseats Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seoul 16 44.4 30 45.4 2 3.4 0 0.4 0 4.6 48 Busan 16 49.9 2 34.6 0 4.7 0 0.1 0 9.7 18 Daegu 12 60.3 0 16.6 0 4.5 0 0.7 0 16.5 12 Incheon 6 47.2 6 44.7 0 3.0 0 1.2 0 2.7 12 Gwangju 0 5.2 6 49.4 1 21.5 0 0.1 1 22.9 8 Daejeon 3 35.3 3 36.8 0 4.0 0 22.4 0 0.8 6 Ulsan 6 54.3 0 13.5 0 26.0 0 0.3 0 4.7 6 Sejong 0 13.9 1 47.9 – 0 33.8 0 4.4 1 Gyeonggi 21 46.1 29 43.6 2 4.3 0 0.1 0 4.8 52 Gangwon 9 52.8 0 37.2 0 1.0 0 0.4 0 8.1 9 North Chungcheong 5 50.1 3 38.0 0 3.8 0 3.6 0 4.1 8 South Chungcheong 4 36.5 3 32.7 0 2.1 3 27.4 0 0.8 10 North Jeolla 0 7.6 9 51.8 1 10.8 0 0.5 1 28.6 11 South Jeolla 0 3.5 10 56.7 1 17.5 – 0 22.0 11 North Gyeongsang 15 60.4 0 8.7 0 5.6 0 0.0 0 23.2 15 South Gyeongsang 14 51.5 1 18.4 0 10.5 0 0.1 1 16.7 16 Jeju 0 25.7 3 48.9 – 0 5.0 0 17.0 3 Total 127 43.3 106 37.9 7 6.0 3 2.2 3 9.4 246

+ Party list vote results by city/provinces Region Saenuri DUP UPP LFP Other Seoul 42.3 38.2 10.6 2.1 6.9 Busan 51.3 31.8 8.4 1.9 6.6 Daegu 66.5 16.4 7.0 2.0 8.1 Incheon 42.9 37.7 9.7 2.6 7.1 Gwangju 5.5 68.9 18.6 1.0 5.9 Daejeon 34.3 33.7 9.0 17.9 5.1 Ulsan 49.5 25.2 16.3 1.6 7.4 Sejong 27.8 38.7 5.4 22.6 5.5 Gyeonggi 42.4 27.7 11.0 2.2 6.7 Gangwon 51.3 33.5 6.6 1.8 6.8 North Chungcheong 43.8 36.0 7.7 5.3 7.1 South Chungcheong 36.6 30.4 6.8 20.4 5.8 North Jeolla 9.6 65.6 14.2 1.4 9.2 South Jeolla 6.3 69.6 14.8 1.2 8.2 North Gyeongsang 69.0 13.4 6.2 1.4 9.9 South Gyeongsang 53.8 25.6 10.5 1.6 8.5 Jeju 38.5 39.5 12.4 2.0 7.6 Overall total 42.8 36.5 10.3 3.2 7.2 Seat allocation 25 21 6 2 0

Reactions and aftermath President Lee said that the "people made wise choices. The government will do its best to manage state affairs in a stable manner and take care of the people's livelihood". The DUP's secretary-general Park Sun-sook conceded the election and added: "The DUP failed to turn public calls for punishing the ... ruling party into reality. We apologise for disappointing supporters. We will sincerely think over what today's election means and try ceaselessly to be reborn as a party the people can lean and rely on." Sim Dae-pyung, leader of the Liberty Forward Party, announced his resignation after the party's poor performance.

On 13 April, the DUP leader Han Myeong-sook announced her resignation on account of her party's defeat.

See also List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2012–2016

Notes

1. Comparison includes the Pro-Park Coalition, which split from and subsequently reintegrated with the Grand National Party. 2. This survey asked separate questions on party support and voting intention. The latter result is reported here. 3. This survey dealt specifically with seats allocated by proportional representation.

References

External links Korea Society Podcast: Korea's Legislative Elections: The Day After, 12 April 2012