Legislative elections were held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on April 9, 2008. The conservative

Grand National Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Han ...

won 153 of 299 seats while the main opposition United Democratic Party won 81 seats. This election marked the lowest-ever voter turnout of 46%.Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...

, Retrieved on April 10, 2008

Electoral system

The election was held under

parallel voting In political science, parallel voting or superposition refers to the use of two or more Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different members of a legislature. More precisely, an electoral system is a superposition if it is a mixture o ...

, with 245 members elected in single-member constituencies via

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

and the remainder elected via proportional representation. Proportional seats were only available to parties which one three percent of the national valid vote among seat-allocated parties and/or won five or more constituency seats.

Political parties

As of April 9, 2008, there were six political parties represented in the 18th

National Assembly of South Korea The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea () is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest legislative elections were held on 10 April 2024. The current Na ...

, in addition to independents: *

(한나라당, ''Hannara-dang''), led by Kang Jae-seop. The current major conservative party within the National Assembly. (153 seats won) * United Democratic Party (통합민주당, ''Tongham Minju-dang''), led by

Son Hak-gyu Sohn Hak-kyu (; born 22 November 1947) is a South Korean politician and former governor of Gyeonggi Province, the most populous province in Korea. He became a politician in 1996 as a congressman of the Grand National Party and governor of Gyeon ...

. The current major liberal party within the National Assembly. (81 seats won) * Liberty Forward Party (자유선진당, ''Jayu Seonjin-dang''), led by Lee Hoi-chang. The Chungcheong Region-strongholder and current second conservative party within the National Assembly against the GNP. (18 seats won) * Pro-Park Alliance (친박연대, ''Chin-bak Yeon-dae''), led by Seo Cheong-won, although their inspirational leader is former GNP leader

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 until Impeachment of Park Geun-hye, she was removed from office in 2017. Park was the first and to date only woman ...

. A conservative coalition with

within the National Assembly that broke away from the GNP after a dispute on the GNP's candidate nomination, which happened just before the election. (14 seats won) * Democratic Labor Party (민주노동당, ''Minju Nodong-dang''), led by Chun Young-se. A minor but the most progressive party within the 18th National Assembly, against both the Grand Nationals and Democrats. (5 seats won) * Creative Korea Party (창조한국당, ''Changjo Hanguk-dang''), led by Moon Kook-hyun. A minor but pro-environmental liberal party within the National Assembly, against the Grand Nationals. (3 seats won) *(no seats) The New Progressive Party, led by Sim Sang-jeong and

Roh Hoe-chan Roh Hoe-chan (, 31 August 1956 – 23 July 2018) was a South Korean politician. He was a member of the 17th, 19th, and 20th National Assembly of South Korea, National Assemblies. Roh was involved with multiple progressive-leaning parties, latel ...

, won 2.94% votes but not enough to gain any seats. The New Progressive Party split from the Democratic Labor Party as a reaction to nationalism after the 2007 presidential elections.

Results

Constituency results by city/province

Party-list results by city/province

Notes

References

{{South Korean elections 2008 elections in South Korea Legislative elections in South Korea