Elections in South Korea

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Elections in South Korea are held on a national level to select the President and the National Assembly. 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 and 47 members by proportional representation. 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 election constituencies.[1]

## Voting

[edit]

### Eligibility

[edit]

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.[2]

### Voting methods

[edit]

Voting methods of South Korea[3][4] Office  | Methods  | Electoral district

|
|

President of South Korea | first-past-the-post | National
Member of the National Assembly  | first-past-the-post | Constituencies and Party List
Metropolitan Mayor/Governor  | first-past-the-post | Provinces
Member of the Metropolitan Council  | first-past-the-post | Constituencies and Party List
Superintendent of Education  | non-partisan first-past-the-post | Provinces
Municipal Mayor  | first-past-the-post | Municipal divisions
Member of the Municipal Council  | Single non-transferable vote | Constituencies and Party List

## Election technology

[edit]

South Korean ballots from 2010.

Polling places are usually located in schools. During the absentee or early voting period, voters can vote at any place in the country. On election day, voters may only vote at polling places in their registered constituency. Korean voters mark paper ballots with a rubber stamp 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.[5]

Polling booth, used in 2025 Presidential Election.

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.[6]

Korean elections have been praised as a model of best practice.[5] However, the legality of the introduction of optical scan technology has been challenged and there have been allegations of rigged counting.[6]

## Schedule

[edit]

### Election

[edit]

Position | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027

|
|
|
|
|
|

Type  | Presidential (March)
Local (June) | None | National Assembly (April) | Presidential (June) | Local (June) | None
President  | President | None | President | None
National Assembly  | None | All seats | None
Provinces, cities and municipalities  | All positions | None | All positions | None

### Inauguration

[edit]

Position | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027

|
|
|
|
|
|

Type  | Presidential (May)
Local (July) | None | National Assembly (May) | Presidential (June) | Local (July) | None
President  | May 10 | None | June 4 | None | None
National Assembly  | None | May 30 | None
Provinces, cities and municipalities  | July 1 | None | July 1 | None

## Latest elections

[edit]

### 2024 legislative election

[edit]

Main article: 2024 South Korean legislative election

Party or alliance| Proportional| Constituency| Total
seats
Votes| %| Seats| Votes| %| Seats
| People Power Party / People Future Party| 10,395,264| 36.67| 18| 13,179,769| 45.08| 90| 108
| Democratic Alliance| | Democratic Party| 7,567,459| 26.70| 8| 14,758,083| 50.48| 161| 169
| Progressive Party| 2| 302,925| 1.04| 1| 3
| New Progressive Alliance[a]| 2| 14,271| 0.05| 0| 2
| Independents| 2| | 2
Total| 14| 15,075,279| 51.57| 162| 176
| Rebuilding Korea Party| 6,874,278| 24.25| 12| | 12
| New Reform Party| 1,025,775| 3.62| 2| 195,147| 0.67| 1| 3
| Liberal Unification Party| 642,433| 2.27| 0| 18,700| 0.06| 0| 0
| Green–Justice Party| 609,313| 2.15| 0| 107,029| 0.37| 0| 0
| New Future Party| 483,827| 1.71| 0| 200,502| 0.69| 1| 1
| Pine Tree Party| 124,369| 0.44| 0| 18,939| 0.06| 0| 0
| Grand National Party [ko]| 72,925| 0.26| 0| | 0
| National Revolutionary Party| 67,420| 0.24| 0| | 0
| Saenuri Party| 57,210| 0.20| 0| | 0
| Freedom and Democracy Party [ko]| 39,977| 0.14| 0| 1,245| 0.00| 0| 0
| Christian Party [ko]| 36,117| 0.13| 0| 218| 0.00| 0| 0
| Grand National Unity Party| 30,323| 0.11| 0| | 0
| Our Republican Party| 29,895| 0.11| 0| 12,814| 0.04| 0| 0
| Great Korea Party [ko]| 29,481| 0.10| 0| | 0
| Women's Party| 28,942| 0.10| 0| | 0
| Hashtag People's Policy Party [ko]| 26,906| 0.09| 0| | 0
| Labor Party| 25,937| 0.09| 0| 7,465| 0.03| 0| 0
| Financial Reform Party [ko]| 20,548| 0.07| 0| | 0
| Senior Welfare Party [ko]| 15,178| 0.05| 0| | 0
| Republican Party [ko]| 14,912| 0.05| 0| | 0
| Hongik Party [ko]| 13,326| 0.05| 0| | 0
| Korea Farmers and Fishermen's Party [ko]| 13,035| 0.05| 0| 2,804| 0.01| 0| 0
| Korea People's Party [ko]| 11,947| 0.04| 0| 85| 0.00| 0| 0
| Mirae Party| 11,505| 0.04| 0| | 0
| New National Participation Party| 10,242| 0.04| 0| | 0
| To Tomorrow, to the Future [ko]| 9,417| 0.03| 0| 1,333| 0.00| 0| 0
| Republic of Korea Party [ko]| 8,527| 0.03| 0| | 0
| Unification Korea Party [ko]| 8,518| 0.03| 0| | 0
| Let's Go Korea [ko]| 7,820| 0.03| 0| | 0
| Popular Democratic Party [ko]| 7,663| 0.03| 0| | 0
| Gihuminsaeng Party| 6,615| 0.02| 0| 778| 0.00| 0| 0
| Party for the Abolition of Special Privileges [ko]| 4,707| 0.02| 0| 54| 0.00| 0| 0
| Korean Wave Union Party [ko]| 3,894| 0.01| 0| | 0
| Korea Business Party [ko]| 3,783| 0.01| 0| | 0
| K Political Innovation Union Party [ko]| 3,451| 0.01| 0| | 0
| New Korean Peninsula Party [ko]| 1,580| 0.01| 0| | 0
| Korean National Party [ko]| | 1,917| 0.01| 0| 0
| People's Democracy Party| | 290| 0.00| 0| 0
| Independents| | 409,761| 1.40| 0| 0
Total| 28,344,519| 100.00| 46| 29,234,129| 100.00| 254| 300

### 2025 presidential election

[edit]

Main article: 2025 South Korean presidential election

Candidate| Party| Votes| %

|
|
|

| Lee Jae Myung| Democratic Party| 17,287,513| 49.42
| Kim Moon-soo| People Power Party| 14,395,639| 41.15
| Lee Jun-seok| Reform Party| 2,917,523| 8.34
| Kwon Yeong-guk| Democratic Labor Party| 344,150| 0.98
| Song Jin-ho| Independent| 35,791| 0.10
Total| 34,980,616| 100.00
Valid votes| 34,980,616| 99.27
Invalid/blank votes| 255,881| 0.73
Total votes| 35,236,497| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 44,391,871| 79.38
Source: National Election Commission

### By region

[edit]

Lee Jae-myung

Kim Moon-soo

Lee Jun-seok

Vote share by municipalities and provinces (inset)

#### Major candidates

[edit]

Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with at least 1% of the total votes.

Region | Lee Jae Myung | Kim Moon-soo | Lee Jun-seok

|
|
|

|  |
Votes  | %  | Votes  | %  | Votes  | %
Seoul | 3,105,459 | 47.1 | 2,738,405  | 41.6  | 655,346  | 9.9
Busan | 895,213  | 40.1  | 1,146,238 | 51.4 | 168,473  | 7.6
Daegu | 379,130  | 23.2  | 1,103,913 | 67.6 | 135,376  | 8.3
Incheon | 1,044,295 | 51.7 | 776,952  | 38.4  | 176,739  | 8.7
Gwangju | 844,682 | 84.8 | 79,937  | 8.0  | 62,104  | 6.2
Daejeon | 470,321 | 48.5 | 393,549  | 40.6  | 94,724  | 9.8
Ulsan | 315,820  | 42.5  | 353,180 | 47.6 | 63,177  | 8.5
Sejong | 140,620 | 55.6 | 83,965  | 33.2  | 25,004  | 9.9
Gyeonggi | 4,821,148 | 52.2 | 3,504,620  | 38.0  | 816,435  | 8.8
Gangwon | 449,161  | 44.0  | 483,360 | 47.3 | 78,704  | 7.7
North Chungcheong | 501,990 | 47.5 | 457,065  | 43.2  | 86,984  | 8.2
South Chungcheong | 661,316 | 47.7 | 600,108  | 43.3  | 111,092  | 8.0
North Jeolla | 1,023,272 | 82.7 | 134,996  | 10.9  | 67,961  | 5.5
South Jeolla | 1,111,941 | 85.9 | 110,624  | 8.5  | 60,822  | 4.7
North Gyeongsang | 442,683  | 25.5  | 1,159,594 | 66.9 | 116,094  | 6.7
South Gyeongsang | 851,733  | 39.4  | 1,123,843 | 52.0 | 161,579  | 7.5
Jeju | 228,729 | 54.8 | 145,290  | 34.8  | 36,909  | 8.8
Total  | 17,287,513 | 49.4 | 14,395,639  | 41.2  | 2,917,523  | 8.3
Source: National Election Commission

#### Minor candidates

[edit]

Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with less than 1% of the total votes.

Region | Kwon
Yeong-guk | Song
Jin-ho

|
|

Votes  | %  | Votes  | %
Seoul | 83,900  | 1.3  | 5,998  | 0.1
Busan | 18,189  | 0.8  | 2,099  | 0.1
Daegu | 12,531  | 0.8  | 1,362  | 0.1
Incheon | 20,743  | 1.0  | 2,098  | 0.1
Gwangju | 8,767  | 0.9  | 934  | 0.1
Daejeon | 9,905  | 1.0  | 1,109  | 0.1
Ulsan | 9,299  | 1.3  | 899  | 0.1
Sejong | 2,961  | 1.2  | 235  | 0.1
Gyeonggi | 84,074  | 0.9  | 8,356  | 0.1
Gangwon | 9,422  | 0.9  | 1,137  | 0.1
North Chungcheong | 10,169  | 1.0  | 1,228  | 0.1
South Chungcheong | 12,893  | 0.9  | 1,519  | 0.1
North Jeolla | 10,061  | 0.8  | 1,719  | 0.1
South Jeolla | 9,352  | 0.7  | 2,104  | 0.2
North Gyeongsang | 13,884  | 0.8  | 1,788  | 0.1
South Gyeongsang | 21,809  | 1.0  | 2,678  | 0.1
Jeju | 6,191  | 1.5  | 528  | 0.1
Total  | 344,150  | 1.0  | 35,791  | 0.1
Source: National Election Commission

### 2022 local elections

[edit]

Main article: 2022 South Korean local elections

2022 South Korean local elections

* * *

| <- 2018 | 1 June 2022 | 2026 ->

|
|

* * *

All 17 metropolitan mayors and governors
All 226 municipal mayors
All 824 seats for provincial and metropolitan councillors
All 2926 seats for municipal councillors
Turnout| 50.9%  9.3 pp
|  | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | Lee Jun-seok | Yun Ho-jung
& Park Ji-hyun
Party  | People Power | Democratic
Regional
offices  | 5 governors
7 met. mayors | 4 governors
1 met. mayor
Regional
offices +/–  |  4 governors
6 met. mayors  | 3 governors
6 met. mayors
Mayors  | 145 | 63
Mayors +/–  |  92  |  88
Councillors  | 540 (P)
1,435 (M) | 322 (P)
1,384 (M)
Councillors +/–  |  403 (P)
426 (M)  |  330 (P)
255 (M)

* * *

| Third party  | Fourth party
|  |
Leader  | Kim Jae-yeon | Yeo Yeong-gug
Party  | Progressive | Justice
Regional
offices  | 0 governor
0 met. mayor  | 0 governor
0 met. mayor
Regional
offices +/–  | 0  | 0
Mayors  | 1  | 0
Mayors +/–  | 1  | 0
Councillors  | 3 (P)
17 (M)  | 2 (P)
7 (M)
Councillors +/–  |  3 (P)
6 (M)  |  9 (P)
19 (M)

* * *

Gubernatorial & metropolitan mayoral elections: overall results and turnouts

Gubernatorial & metropolitan mayoral elections: municipal-level breakdown

## Summary of past elections

[edit]

### Presidential elections

[edit]

Main article: Presidential elections in South Korea § Summary of past presidential elections

### Legislative elections

[edit]

Main article: Legislative elections in South Korea § Summary of past legislative elections

### Local elections

[edit]

* 1995 South Korean local elections
* 1998 South Korean local elections
* 2002 South Korean local elections
* 2006 South Korean local elections
* 2010 South Korean local elections
* 2014 South Korean local elections
* 2018 South Korean local elections
* 2022 South Korean local elections

## See also

[edit]

* History of South Korea
* Constitution of South Korea
* Electoral calendar
* Electoral system
* Artificial intelligence and elections

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Alliance of the Basic Income Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Open Democratic Party

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Representation System(Elected Person) Archived April 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, the NEC, Retrieved on April 10, 2008
2. ^ "Right to Vote and Eligibility for Election". National Election Commission (South Korea). Archived from the original on August 12, 2021.
3. ^ "Election Districts and Representation System". National Election Commission (South Korea). Archived from the original on August 12, 2021.
4. ^ "Local Council Elections". [[National Election Commission (South Korea). Archived from the original on August 12, 2021.
5. ^ a b Tim Meisburger, Korean Elections: A Model of Best Practice, April 20, 2016.
6. ^ a b Oglim, The South Korean 2012 Presidential Election was Fraudulent, Feb. 21, 2013. (archived version.)

## Further reading

[edit]

* Nahm, A.C. (1996). Korea: A history of the Korean people (rev. ed.). Seoul: Hollym. ISBN 978-1-56591-070-6.
* Lee, Il-cheong (이일청) (1993). 인명국사대사전 (Inmyeong guksa daesajeon, Unabridged biographical dictionary of Korean history. Seoul: Goryeo Munhaksa.
* Lee, Ki-baik (1984). A new history of Korea (rev ed.). Seoul: Ilchokak. ISBN 978-89-337-0204-8.

## External links

[edit]

* National Election Commission of South Korea

* 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)

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