General Information
Republic of Korea: Parliament, 13 April 2016
At stake in this election:
- 300 seats in the Kukhoe (National Assembly)
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: President PARK Geun-hye (since 25 February 2013)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister HWANG Kyo-ahn (since 18 June 2015)
- Assembly: South Korea has a unicameral Kukhoe (National Assembly) composed of 300 seats with members serving 4-year terms.
Description of electoral system:
- In the Kukhoe, 253 Members are elected by plurality vote in single member constituencies and 47 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system.
Last Election:
- Elections for the Kukhoe were last held on 11 April 2012. The New Frontier Party took the most seats with 152, while the Democratic United Party took 127 seats. Additionally, the United Progressive Party took 13 seats, the Liberty Forward Party took 10, and independents took 3.
Main parties in the election:
- New Frontier Party/Saenuridang
- Leader: KIM Moo-sung
- Seats won in last election: 152
- Justice Party/Jeonguidang[2]
- Leader: SIM Sang-jeong
- Seats won in last election: N/A
- Minjoo Party of Korea/Deobureo Minjudang[3]
- Leader: KIM Jong-in
- Seats won in last election: N/A
- People’s Party/Gukmin-eui dang[4]
- Co-Chairpeople : Ahn Cheol-soo and Chun Jung-bae
- Seats won in last election: N/A
Population and number of registered voters:
· Population: 49,115,196 (July 2015 est.)
· Registered Voters: 40,205,055 (2012)
Gender Data:
· Female Population: 24,566,952 (July 2015 est.)
· Is South Korea a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (25 May 1983)
· Has South Korea ratified CEDAW: Yes (27 December 1984)
· Gender Quota: Yes[5]
· Female candidates in this election: Yes
· Number of Female Parliamentarians: 49 (16.33%)
· Human Development Index Position: 17 (2014)
· Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A
Disability Data:
· Is South Korea a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
· Has South Korea ratified CRPD: Yes (11 December 2008)
· Population with a disability: 7,367,279
[2] The Justice Party splintered from the United Progressive Party.
[3] The Democratic Union Party merged with the minor New Political Vision Party to create the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD). The NPAD party has since split into two parties; the Minjoo Party of Korea and the People’s Party. The Minjoo Party of Korea is seen as the successor of the Democratic United Party.
[4] The People’s Party splintered off from the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD)..
[5] In South Korea, the gender quota requires that for proportional representation elections, parties must include 50% women on candidate lists, and for single member districts, candidate lists must include 30% women.