1992 South Korean legislative election

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 25 March 1992. The result was a victory for the Democratic Liberal Party, which won 149 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly. However, DLP's seats shortened from 218 to 149 seats, less than 150 needed for majority, so this regarded as retreat. Voter turnout was 72%.

1992 South Korean legislative election

24 March 1992
All 299 seats in the National Assembly 150 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.86% ( 3.91pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Roh Tae-woo Kim Dae-jung Lee Ki-taek Chung Ju-yung Party Democratic Liberal Democratic Unification National Last election 219 seats 70 seats Did not exist Seats won 149 97 31 Seat change 70 27 New Popular vote 7,923,718 6,004,578 3,574,419 Percentage 38.49% 29.17% 17.37% Swing 34.89pp 9.91pp New
Speaker before election Park Jyun-kyu Democratic Liberal Elected Speaker Park Jyun-kyu Democratic Liberal

Electoral system

Of the 299 seats, 237 were elected in single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were allocated via modified proportional representation at the national level among parties that won seven or more seats in constituencies.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in South Korea

Parties		Leader	Ideology	Seats		Status
				Last election	Before election
	Democratic Liberal Party	Roh Tae-woo	Conservatism	125 / 276	194 / 276	Government
				59 / 276
				35 / 276
	Democratic Party	Park Young-sook	Liberalism	70 / 276	64 / 276	Opposition
	Hankyoreh Democratic Party	Ye Chun-ho	Progressivism	1 / 276	Dissolved	Opposition
	Unification National Party	Chung Ju-yung	Conservatism	Did not exist	7 / 276	Opposition
	New Political Reform Party	Park Chan-jong	Conservatism	Did not exist	4 / 276	Opposition

The ruling Democratic Liberal Party was formed in 1990 through the merger of the former ruling Democratic Justice Party along with two opposition parties, the Reunification Democratic Party (RDP) and the New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP). The merger resulted in DLP having a parliamentary supermajority of 218 seats, which was more than 2/3 of whole seats. The party supported President Roh Tae-woo and included among its members former opposition leader Kim Young-sam and former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil.

The leading opposition party was the Democratic Party. It was formed in 1991 through the merger of the New Democratic Allied Party (called Peace Democratic Party in previous election) led by Kim Dae-jung and former members of the RDP with the minor Democratic Party. The party was co-led by Kim and Lee Ki-taek. DP won 97 seats, which was less than 100 seats, one third of the whole seats, needed to prevent DLP's attempt to revise the constitution.

The Unification National Party was a conservative, centrist, developmentalist, pro-business party led by Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung. The party campaigned heavily on the issue of the economy and the poor record of President Roh's government. The RNP won 31 seats, which was more than 10% of the seats, with 17.4% of popular vote, and joined the opposition.

These major three parties competed in presidential elections on 19 December, which ended with DLP nominee Kim Young-sam's victory.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				FPTP	PR	Total	+/–
	Democratic Liberal Party	7,923,719	38.49	116	33	149	–70
	Democratic Party	6,004,577	29.17	75	22	97	+27
	Unification National Party	3,574,419	17.37	24	7	31	New
	New Political Reform Party	369,044	1.79	1	0	1	New
	Popular Party	319,041	1.55	0	0	0	New
	Fairness People's Party	21,007	0.10	0	0	0	New
	Independents	2,372,005	11.52	21	0	21	+12
Total		20,583,812	100.00	237	62	299	0
Valid votes		20,583,812	98.75
Invalid/blank votes		259,670	1.25
Total votes		20,843,482	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		29,003,828	71.86
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region	Total seats	Seats won
		DLP	DP	UNP	NPRP	Ind.
Seoul	44	16	25	2	1	0
Busan	16	15	0	0	0	1
Daegu	11	8	0	2	0	1
Incheon	7	5	1	0	0	1
Gwangju	6	0	6	0	0	0
Daejeon	5	1	2	0	0	2
Gyeonggi	31	18	8	5	0	0
Gangwon	14	8	0	4	0	2
North Chungcheong	9	6	1	2	0	0
South Chungcheong	14	7	1	4	0	2
North Jeolla	14	2	12	0	0	0
South Jeolla	19	0	19	0	0	0
North Gyeongsang	21	14	0	2	0	5
South Gyeongsang	23	16	0	3	0	4
Jeju	3	0	0	0	0	3
Constituency total	237	116	75	24	1	21
PR list	62	33	22	7	0	0
Total	299	149	97	31	1	21

External links

• 1992 election in South Korea Inter-Parliamentary Union