1988 South Korean legislative election

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 26 April 1988. The result was a victory for the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP), which won 125 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 75.8%. This was the first time the ruling party did not win a majority in the National Assembly since 1960, the first free and fair elections in Korean history. In January 1990, the DJP merged with other two opposition parties, leaving the Kim Dae-jung-led Peace Democratic Party to be the sole opposition party.

1988 South Korean legislative election

26 April 1988
All 299 seats to the National Assembly 150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.77% (8.80pp)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Roh Tae-woo Park Yeong-suk Party Democratic Justice Peace Democratic Last election 148 seats Did not exist Seats won 125 70 Seat change 23 New Popular vote 6,670,494 3,783,279 Percentage 33.96% 19.26% Swing 1.29pp New   Third party Fourth party   Leader Kim Myeong-yun Kim Jong-pil Party Reunification Democratic New Democratic Republican Last election Did not exist Did not exist Seats won 59 35 Seat change New New Popular vote 4,680,175 3,062,506 Percentage 23.83% 15.59% Swing New New
Speaker before election Lee Jae-hyung Democratic Justice Elected Speaker Kim Jae-soon Democratic Justice

Electoral system

Of the 299 seats, 224 were elected in single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were allocated via proportional representation at the national level among parties that won five or more seats in constituencies. One-half of those seats would be awarded to the top party (which was then eliminated from further consideration for national seats), with the remainder allocated based on vote share.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in South Korea

Parties		Leader	Ideology	Seats		Status
				Last election	Before election
	Democratic Justice Party	Roh Tae-woo	Conservatism	149 / 276	160 / 276	Government
	Reunification Democratic Party	Kim Myeong-yun	Liberalism	Did not exist	50 / 276	Opposition
	Peace Democratic Party	Park Yeong-suk			22 / 276	Opposition
	New Democratic Republican Party	Kim Jong-pil	Conservatism		9 / 276	Opposition
	Democratic Korea Party	Yu Chi-song	Liberalism	59 / 276	0 / 276	Opposition
	New Korean Democratic Party	Shin Do-hwan		32 / 276	0 / 276	Opposition
	Korean National Party	Lee Man-sup	Conservatism	25 / 276	0 / 276	Opposition
	New Socialist Party		Socialism	1 / 276	Dissolved	Opposition
	New Democratic Party	Ryu Gap-jong	Liberalism	1 / 276	Dissolved	Opposition

The governing Democratic Justice Party (DJP) had recently elected President Roh Tae-woo. While remaining the largest party, the DJP lost its absolute parliamentary majority. The party was hindered by a stronger opposition and the unpopularity of former party leader and President Chun Doo-hwan.

The opposition Peace Democratic Party led by veteran opposition leader Kim Dae-jung became the second largest party, winning more seats than another opposition Reunification Democratic Party (RDP). This was vindication for Kim Dae-jung, who came had come third in the 1987 South Korean presidential election. However, the election also showed the party's limitations, coming in as third place after DJP and RDP in popular vote and only winning seats in the Honam and Sudogwon, and nowhere outside of them.

For Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party the election was a major setback, winning third most seats in the parliament. This was after Kim had placed second in the first democratic presidential election, just ahead of Kim Dae-jung.

The New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP) led by former prime Minister Kim Jong-pil came a distant fourth. However, thanks to the failure of the DJP to win an absolute majority, the oppositions emerged as the major powerbrokers in the new National Assembly.

In January 1990, the DJP merged with the parties of Kim Young-sam and Kim Jong-pil to form the Democratic Liberal Party, with the former becoming its nominee in the 1992 presidential elections.

There were 224 constituency seats and 75 at large seats elected from lists in proportion to parties' share of constituency seats.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				FPTP	List	Total	+/–
	Democratic Justice Party	6,670,494	33.96	87	38	125	–23
	Reunification Democratic Party	4,680,175	23.83	46	13	59	New
	Peace Democratic Party	3,783,279	19.26	54	16	70	New
	New Democratic Republican Party	3,062,506	15.59	27	8	35	New
	Hankyoreh Democratic Party	251,236	1.28	1	0	1	New
	People's Party	65,650	0.33	0	0	0	New
	Korean National Party	65,032	0.33	0	0	0	–20
	New Korean Democratic Party	46,877	0.24	0	0	0	–67
	Democratic Korea Party	32,799	0.17	0	0	0	–35
	Korean Justice Party	25,433	0.13	0	0	0	New
	The Third Generation Party	16,148	0.08	0	0	0	New
	Hanist Reunification Korean Party	3,736	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Unificational Socialist Party	3,267	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Christian Holy People's Party	2,247	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Independents	933,161	4.75	9	0	9	+5
Total		19,642,040	100.00	224	75	299	+23
Valid votes		19,642,040	98.95
Invalid/blank votes		208,775	1.05
Total votes		19,850,815	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		26,198,205	75.77
Source: IPU, Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region	Total seats	Seats won
		DJP	PDP	RDP	NDRP	HDP	Ind.
Seoul	42	10	17	10	3	0	2
Busan	15	1	0	14	0	0	0
Daegu	8	8	0	0	0	0	0
Incheon	7	6	0	1	0	0	0
Gwangju	5	0	5	0	0	0	0
Gyeonggi	28	16	1	4	6	0	1
Gangwon	14	8	0	3	1	0	2
North Chungcheong	9	7	0	0	2	0	0
South Chungcheong	18	2	0	2	13	0	1
North Jeolla	14	0	14	0	0	0	0
South Jeolla	18	0	17	0	0	1	0
North Gyeongsang	21	17	0	2	2	0	0
South Gyeongsang	22	12	0	9	0	0	1
Jeju	3	0	0	1	0	0	2
Constituency total	224	87	54	46	27	1	9
PR list	75	38	16	13	8	0	0
Total	299	125	70	59	35	1	9

External links

• 1988 elections in South Korea Inter-Parliamentary Union