1960 South Korean parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in South Korea on 29 June 1960.[1] They were the first and only direct elections of the Second Republic and saw the first election of members of the new House of Councillors, together with the fifth election of members of the House of Representatives. They were also the first relatively free and fair national elections held in the country, but would be the last free elections until the 1987 presidential elections. Voter turnout was 84.3%.

1960 South Korean parliamentary election
South Korea
29 June 1960
House of Representatives

All 233 seats in the House of Representatives
117 seats needed for a majority
Turnout84.35% (Decrease 3.45pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Democratic Chang Myon 41.71 175 +96
Socialist Mass Party Seo Sang-il 5.96 4 New
Liberal Cho Gyeong-gyu 2.75 2 -124
Socialist 0.64 1 New
Unification 0.19 1 +1
Other parties 1.65 1 +1
Independents 46.81 49 +22
Results by constituency
House of Councillors

All 58 seats in the House of Councillors
30 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Democratic Chang Myon 51.41 31 New
Liberal Cho Gyeong-gyu 6.12 4 New
Socialist Mass Party Seo Sang-il 1.37 1 New
Socialist 1.27 1 New
Others 1.77 1 New
Independents 38.07 20 New

The elections took place after President Rhee Syngman amended the constitution and won a third term in the uncontested March 1960 presidential election, which prompted the pro-democracy April Revolution and removed Rhee from power.

The Democratic Party, which had been the opposition party under former President Rhee, received the most votes (42%) in the House of Representatives election, winning 175 of 233 seats, while its 51% vote share in the House of Councillors elections saw it win 31 of the 58 seats. It was the first time that a liberal party won an election in South Korea, but the Democratic Party and its liberal successors would not win an election again until the 1997 presidential election and would not win a legislative election until 2004. Independent politicians received a significant portion of the vote, with 47% of the vote in the House of Representatives elections and 38% of the vote in the House of Councillors elections.

The government formed after the elections was overthrown within less than a year by Park Chung-hee in a coup on 16 May 1961. Park subsequently re-established the presidential system under a military government and served as president of South Korea from 1962 to 1979.

Electoral system

The members of the House of Representatives were elected via first-past-the-post voting. Members of the House of Councillors were elected via partial block voting in constituencies of between two and eight seats corresponding to the provinces and Seoul, where voters could cast ballots for up to half of the candidates running in their constituency.

Results

House of Representatives

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Democratic Party3,786,40141.71175+96
Socialist Mass Party541,0215.964New
Liberal Party249,9602.752–124
Korea Socialist Party57,9650.641New
Korea Independence Party26,6490.290New
Unification Party17,2930.1910
Other parties149,3661.651
Independents4,249,18046.8149+22
Total9,077,835100.002330
Valid votes9,077,83592.83
Invalid/blank votes701,0867.17
Total votes9,778,921100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,593,43284.35
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region Total
seats
Seats won
DP SMP LP SP UP Other Ind.
Seoul 16 15 0 0 0 0 0 1
Gyeonggi 25 14 0 0 0 0 0 11
Gangwon 20 12 1 1 0 0 0 6
North Chungcheong 13 9 0 0 0 0 1 3
South Chungcheong 22 18 0 0 0 0 0 4
North Jeolla 24 18 1 0 0 0 0 5
South Jeolla 32 29 0 0 0 1 0 2
North Gyeongsang 38 28 1 0 0 0 0 9
South Gyeongsang 40 31 1 1 0 0 0 7
Jeju 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Total 233 175 4 2 1 1 1 49

House of Councillors

PartyVotes%Seats
Democratic Party5,491,52751.4131
Liberal Party653,7486.124
Socialist Mass Party146,0591.371
Korea Socialist Party135,1601.271
Other parties188,7921.771
Independents4,067,34338.0720
Total10,682,629100.0058
Registered voters/turnout11,593,432
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region Total
seats
Seats won
DP LP SMP SP Other Ind.
Seoul 6 4 0 0 0 0 2
Gyeonggi 6 3 1 0 0 0 2
Gangwon 4 3 0 0 0 0 1
North Chungcheong 4 3 1 0 0 0 0
South Chungcheong 6 2 1 1 0 0 2
North Jeolla 6 4 0 0 0 0 2
South Jeolla 8 4 1 0 0 0 3
North Gyeongsang 8 3 0 0 1 0 4
South Gyeongsang 8 4 0 0 0 1 3
Jeju 2 1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 58 31 4 1 1 1 20

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
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