1985 South Korean legislative election

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 February 1985. The result was a victory for the Democratic Justice Party, which won 148 of the 276 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 84.6%.

1985 South Korean legislative election

12 February 1985
All 276 seats to the National Assembly 139 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	84.57% ( 6.83pp)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Chun Doo-hwan Lee Min-woo Party Democratic Justice New Korean Democratic Last election 151 seats Did not exist Seats won 148 67 Seat change 3 New Popular vote 7,040,811 5,843,827 Percentage 35.25% 29.26% Swing 0.39pp New   Third party Fourth party   Leader Yu Chi-song Kim Jong-cheol Party Democratic Korea National Last election 81 25 Seats won 35 20 Seat change 46 5 Popular vote 3,930,966 1,828,744 Percentage 19.68% 9.16% Swing 1.87pp 4.09pp
Speaker before election Chae Mun-shik Democratic Justice Elected Speaker Lee Jae-hyung Democratic Justice

Electoral system

Of the 276 seats, 184 were elected in two-member constituencies via single non-transferable vote, while the remainder were allocated via proportional representation at the national level among parties that won five or more seats in constituencies. Two-thirds of those seats would be awarded to the top party (which was then eliminated from further consideration for national seats), with the remainder allocated based on vote share.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in South Korea

Parties		Leader	Ideology	Seats		Status
				Last election	Before election
	Democratic Justice Party	Chun Doo-hwan	Conservatism	151 / 276	149 / 276	Government
	Democratic Korea Party	Yu Chi-song	Liberalism	81 / 276	59 / 276	Opposition
	New Korean Democratic Party	Lee Min-woo		Did not exist	32 / 276	Opposition
	Korean National Party	Kim Jong-cheol	Conservatism	25 / 276	24 / 276	Opposition
	New Socialist Party			2 / 276	1 / 276	Opposition
				2 / 276
	Civil Rights Party			2 / 276	0 / 276	Opposition
	Democratic Farmer's Party			1 / 276	Dissolved	Opposition
	Liberal National Party			1 / 276	0 / 276	Opposition

The ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP) of President Chun Doo-hwan managed to remain the largest party in the National Assembly but faced a tougher challenge from the united opposition.

The New Korean Democratic Party (NKDP) was formed by former members of the New Democratic Party, notably opposition leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam despite being still barred from running. The party made strong gains across the country, largely thanks to its focus on greater democratic rights.

The Korean National Party had been formed by former members of the Democratic Republican Party in the run-up to the 1981 elections. After making some key gains, the party lost ground in these elections, largely thanks to the gains of the NKDP.

The opposition Democratic Korea Party had been the premier opposition party following the 1981 elections, but it suffered major defections to the NKDP.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				FPTP	PR	Total	/–
	Democratic Justice Party	7,040,811	35.25	87	61	148	–3
	New Korean Democratic Party	5,843,827	29.26	50	17	67	New
	Democratic Korea Party	3,930,966	19.68	26	9	35	–46
	Korean National Party	1,828,744	9.16	15	5	20	–5
	New Socialist Party	288,863	1.45	1	0	1	New
	Workers and Farmers Party	185,859	0.93	0	0	0	New
	New Democratic Party	112,654	0.56	1	0	1	New
	Civil Rights Party	75,634	0.38	0	0	0	–2
	National Group Party	17,257	0.09	0	0	0	New
	Independents	650,028	3.25	4	0	4	–7
Total		19,974,643	100.00	184	92	276	0
Valid votes		19,974,643	98.46
Invalid/blank votes		312,029	1.54
Total votes		20,286,672	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		23,987,830	84.57
Source: Nohlen et al.

By city/province

Region	Total seats	Seats won
		DJP	NKDP	DKP	KNP	NSP	NDP	Ind.
Seoul	28	13	14	1	0	0	0	0
Busan	12	3	6	2	1	0	0	0
Daegu	6	2	2	1	1	0	0	0
Incheon	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Gyeonggi	20	10	4	3	3	0	0	0
Gangwon	12	6	0	1	4	0	0	1
North Chungcheong	8	4	2	1	1	0	0	0
South Chungcheong	16	8	4	4	0	0	0	0
North Jeolla	14	7	2	1	3	0	1	0
South Jeolla	22	11	5	5	0	1	0	0
North Gyeongsang	20	10	4	3	1	0	0	2
South Gyeongsang	20	10	5	4	1	0	0	0
Jeju	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Constituency total	184	87	50	26	15	1	1	4
PR list	92	61	17	9	5	0	0	0
Total	276	148	67	35	20	1	1	4

References

• Republic of Korea Historical Archive of Parliamentary Elections Results