At stake in this election:

• 299 seats in the National Assembly (Kukhoe)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President GOH Kun *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister GOH Kun
• Assembly: South Korea has a unicameral National Assembly (Kukhoe) with 299 seats.

* On March 12, President ROH Moo-hyun was impeached by the National Assembly for violating election law and campaign funding regulations. Currently, Prime Minister GOH Kun is acting as interim President until the elections are over and the constitutional court reaches a verdict about ROH Moo Hyun's status.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the National Assembly (Kukhoe), 243 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 56 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: The Uri Party*
  • Leader: CHUNG Dong-young
  • Seats won in this election: 152
  • Seats won in last election: 49
• Party: Grand National Party (GNP)
  • Leader: PARK Geun-hye
  • Seats won in this election: 121
  • Seats won in last election: 137
• Party: Democratic Labor Party (DLP)
  • Leader: KWON Young-Ghil
  • Seats won in this election: 10
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Millennium Democratic Party (MDP)
  • Leader: CHO Sun-hyong
  • Seats won in this election: 9
  • Seats won in last election: 59
• Party: United Liberal Democrats (ULD)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 4
  • Seats won in last election: 10
• Party: Others
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 3
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

* The Uri Party was formed in late 2003 by former members of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP)

Last Parliamentary election:

• Parliamentary elections were last held on April 13, 2000.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 48,039,415 (2004)
• Registered Voters: 35,596,497 (2004)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 24,009,028 (2004)

·         Is South Korea a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (25 May 1983)

·         Has South Korea ratified CEDAW: Yes (27 December 1984)

·         Gender Quota: Yes[5]

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 39 (following the 2004 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 17 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is South Korea a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has South Korea ratified CRPD: Yes (11 December 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 7,205,912 (est.)