1985 South Korean legislative election

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 February 1985.[1] The result was a victory for the Democratic Justice Party, which won 148 of the 276 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 84.6%.

1985 South Korean legislative election

12 February 1985
All 276 seats to the National Assembly 139 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	84.6% (6.9 pp)
Leader Chun Doo-hwan Lee Min-woo Party Democratic Justice NKDP Leader since January 1981 18 January 1985 Leader's seat not contesting (President) Jongno & Central Last election 151 seats – Seats won 148 67 Seat change 3 New Popular vote 7,040,477 5,843,827 Percentage 35.2% 29.3%   Leader Yu Chi-song Kim Jong-cheol Party Democratic Korea Korean National Leader since January 1981 1981 Leader's seat Pyeongtaek, Anseong PR List 1 Last election 81 25 Seats won 35 20 Seat change 46 5 Popular vote 3,931,300 1,828,744 Percentage 19.7% 9.2%

Parties

The ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP) of President Chun Doo-hwan managed to remain the largest party in the National Assembly but faced a tougher challenge from the united opposition.

The New Korea and Democratic Party (NKDP) was formed by former members of the New Democratic Party, notably opposition leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam despite they were still barred from running elections. The party made strong gains across the country, largely thanks to its focus on greater democratic rights.

The Korean National Party had been formed by former members of the Democratic Republican Party in the run-up to the 1981 elections. After making some key gains, the party lost ground in these elections, largely thanks to the gains of the NKDP.

The opposition Democratic Korea Party had been the premier opposition party following the 1981 elections, but it suffered major defections to the NKDP.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				FPTP	PR	Total	+/–
	Democratic Justice Party	7,040,811	35.2	87	61	148	–3
	New Korea and Democratic Party	5,843,827	29.3	50	17	67	New
	Democratic Korea Party	3,930,966	19.7	26	9	35	–46
	Korean National Party	1,828,744	9.2	15	5	20	–5
	New Socialist Party	288,863	1.4	1	0	1	New
	Workers and Farmers Party	185,859	0.9	0	0	0	New
	New Democratic Party	112,654	0.6	1	0	1	New
	Civil Rights Party	75,634	0.4	0	0	0	–2
	National Group Party	17,257	0.1	0	0	0	New
	Independents	650,028	3.3	4	0	4	–7
Invalid/blank votes		312,029	–	–	–	–	–
Total		20,286,672	100	184	92	276	0
Registered voters/turnout		23,987,830	84.6	–	–	–	–
Source: Nohlen et al.

Results by city/province

Region	Total seats	Seats won
		Democratic Justice	NKDP	Democratic Korea	Korean National	New Socialist	New Democratic	Ind.
Seoul	28	13	14	1	0	0	0	0
Busan	12	3	6	2	1	0	0	0
Daegu	6	2	2	1	1	0	0	0
Incheon	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Gyeonggi	20	10	4	3	3	0	0	0
Gangwon	12	6	0	1	4	0	0	1
North Chungcheong	8	4	2	1	1	0	0	0
South Chungcheong	16	8	4	4	0	0	0	0
North Jeolla	14	7	2	1	3	0	1	0
South Jeolla	22	11	5	5	0	1	0	0
North Gyeongsang	20	10	4	3	1	0	0	2
South Gyeongsang	20	10	5	4	1	0	0	0
Jeju	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Constituency total	184	87	50	26	15	1	1	4
PR list	92	61	17	9	5	0	0	0
Total	276	148	67	35	20	1	1	4

References

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

• Republic of Korea Historical Archive of Parliamentary Elections Results