Elections in South Korea are held on a national level to select the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

. Local elections are held every four years to elect governors, metropolitan mayors, municipal mayors, and provincial and municipal legislatures. The president is directly elected for a single five-year term by plurality vote. The National Assembly has 300 members elected for a four-year term, 253 in single-seat

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

and 47 members by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. Each individual party willing to represent its policies in the National Assembly is qualified on the legislative (general) election if: i) the national party-vote reaches over 3% on proportional contest or ii) more than 5 members of the party are elected from each of their

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

election constituencies.

Voting

Eligibility

All citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote. According to Article 34 of the 'Immigration Control Act,' a non-Korean citizen registered in the relevant local constituency and who has had a resident visa for at least three years has the right to vote in local elections.

Voting methods

Election technology

Korean 5th local election ballot paper - Muju na

Polling place A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

s are usually located in schools. During the absentee or

early voting Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as via postal voting, or in ...

period, voters can vote at any polling place in the country. On

election day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...

, voters may only vote at polling places in their registered constituency. Korean voters mark paper ballots with a

rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to rubbe ...

using red ink. There is one race per ballot paper; if there are multiple offices up for election, ballot papers are colour-coded and voters are issued one ballot per race.Tim Meisburger
Korean Elections: A Model of Best Practice
April 20, 2016. Korea uses a central count model. After the polls close, ballot boxes are sealed and transported to the constituency's counting centre. Traditionally ballots were hand-counted, and optical scanners have been adopted since 3rd local elections held on 13 June 2002. The scanners resemble cash sorter machines, sorting the ballots into stacks by how they are voted. Stacks are then counted using machines resembling currency counting machines.Oglim
The South Korean 2012 Presidential Election was Fraudulent
Feb. 21, 2013.
archived version
) Korean elections have been praised as a model of best practice. However, the legality of the introduction of optical scan technology has been challenged and there have been allegations of rigged counting.

Schedule

Election

Inauguration

Latest elections

2022 presidential election

2020 legislative election

2022 local election

Summary of past elections

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

Local elections

2010 South Korean local elections The 5th local elections were held in South Korea on 2 June 2010. The voter turnout reached 54.4%, the highest in 15 years.

2014 South Korean local elections The 6th local elections were held in South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its wester ...

2018 South Korean local elections The 7th local elections were held in South Korea on 13 June 2018. The election coincided with the by-elections for the vacant seats in the National Assembly. The election was a landslide victory for the Democratic Party of Korea, the ruling pa ...

2022 South Korean local elections The 8th local elections were held in South Korea on 1 June 2022. These elections came after the presidential election in March 2022, and coincided with the by-elections for the vacant seats in the National Assembly. It was the first nationwide ...

Notes

External links

Overview of candidates, parties and outcomes of South Korean elections since 1952
(with minor flaws like 이시영 missing in the 1952 page and wrong year of Park's resignation in the 1960 page) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elections in South Korea