2012 South Korean legislative election

The South Korean National Assembly consists of 246 directly elected seats and 54 nationwide proportional representation seats chosen under an FPTP-PR parallel voting system.^[4] 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. In South Korea's presidential system, the head of state controls the executive, but the loss of control in congress could have hampered President Lee's ability to govern alone.^[5]

Four parties won seats in the 2012 election:

• Saenuri Party (Korean: 새누리당, Saenuri-dang), led by Park Geun-hye.^[6]
  The largest conservative party and incumbent government. Formerly name the Grand National Party,^[7] the party was renamed in February after a period of internal crisis in which an Emergency Response Commission assumed control of the party.^[8][9]
• Democratic United Party (Korean: 민주통합당, Minju Tonghap-dang), led by Han Myeong-sook. The largest liberal party and principal opposition.^[10][11]
• Liberty Forward Party (Korean: 자유선진당, Jayu Seonjin-dang), led by Sim Dae-pyung. The second-largest conservative party with its primary support base in Chungcheong.^[12]
• Unified Progressive Party (Korean: 통합진보당, Tonghap Jinbo-dang), led jointly by Rhyu Si-min, Lee Jung-hee, and Sim Sang-jeong.^[13] The largest left-progressive party.^[14][15]

Other parties that put forward candidates included the left-wing New Progressive Party and the centre-right Korea Vision Party.

The conservative parties were fragmented, particularly between Saenuri and the new KVP over the latter recruiting high-profile defected members of the incumbent party and those who were denied tickets in the election, which was also reflective of a division grew between Park's leadership and loyalists of Lee Myung-bak.^[16] However, the DUP–UPP coalition also came under strain due to irregularities in the UPP's primaries that involved co-leader Lee Jung-hee.^[17]

Campaigning for the election officially began on 29 March, though party leaders toured the country beforehand to rally support for their bids.^[18] The international media suggested that the main issues in the campaign were economic, including inflation, educational and housing costs, unemployment and underemployment, the income gap, and social welfare, while the North Korean issue did not play a role.^[2][7]

The opposition DUP tried to harness discontent with the incumbent Lee's administration, and called on the electorate to adjudge the election as a referendum on Lee's presidency.^[19] The opposition coalition endeavored to depict the ruling party as unsocial and favoring the rich, while promising to create jobs.^[20] The incumbent government emphasised the threat of North Korea and made the case for continuing their hard line towards the northern neighbour and maintaining a close alliance with the United States. They accused the opposition of jeopardising the free trade agreement with the U.S. The DUP had demanded renegotiation of the treaty and threatened to cancel it in case of the United States' refusal to negotiate.^[19]

The international media highlighted the candidacy of Cho Myung-chul, a professor who defected from North Korea in 1994.^[21][22] In its newspaper Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean Workers' Party called on the electorate to vote out the incumbent government: "Young voters, students and people must deliver a crushing defeat to the traitors."^[1]

Polls were barred in the final week of the election, just before indications suggested the two largest parties would get somewhere between 130 and 135 seats each. A high turnout, particularly with the youth, was seen as beneficial to the opposition.^[2]

The voting centres were open from 6:00−18:00. Voting occurred via electronic ballot counting and scanning that gave an instantaneous result.^[6] Cho Myung-chul's successful candidature was the first time that one of the 23 thousand North Korean refugees living in the South was elected to the National Assembly.^[21]

More information Party, Proportional ...

Party		Proportional			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Saenuri Party	9,130,651	42.80	25	9,324,911	43.28	127	152	–15
	Democratic United Party	7,777,123	36.46	21	8,156,045	37.85	106	127	+46
	Unified Progressive Party	2,198,405	10.31	6	1,291,306	5.99	7	13	+8
	Liberty Forward Party	690,754	3.24	2	474,001	2.20	3	5	–13
	Christian Liberal Democratic Party [ko]	257,190	1.21	0	2,241	0.01	0	0	0
	New Progressive Party	243,065	1.14	0	101,614	0.47	0	0	0
	Hannara Party	181,822	0.85	0	454	0.00	0	0	New
	Korea Vision Party	156,241	0.73	0	44,379	0.21	0	0	New
	Pro-Park United [ko]	134,898	0.63	0	25,302	0.12	0	0	New
	Green Party Korea	103,842	0.49	0	4,843	0.02	0	0	New
	Creative Korea Party	91,935	0.43	0	3,624	0.02	0	0	–3
	Party for Youth [ko]	73,194	0.34	0	5,569	0.03	0	0	New
	Go! Party for the Grand People [ko]	60,428	0.28	0				0	New
	Korean Christian Party	54,332	0.25	0				0	New
	Authentic Democratic Party	48,648	0.23	0	71,867	0.33	0	0	New
	United Buddhist Party	36,262	0.17	0	68	0.00	0	0	New
	People's Happiness Party [ko]	35,846	0.17	0	18,028	0.08	0	0	New
	Party for Culture and Art	23,330	0.11	0				0	0
	Future Union [ko]	19,962	0.09	0	5,403	0.03	0	0	New
	Grand Korea Party [ko]	14,133	0.07	0	887	0.00	0	0	New
	Democratic Unification Party				524	0.00	0	0	New
	People's Power				153	0.00	0	0	New
	Independents				2,014,777	9.35	3	3	–22
Total		21,332,061	100.00	54	21,545,996	100.00	246	300	+1
Valid votes		21,332,061	97.82		21,545,996	98.87
Invalid/blank votes		474,737	2.18		246,855	1.13
Total votes		21,806,798	100.00		21,792,851	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		40,205,055	54.24		40,181,623	54.24
Source: NEC, CLEA, IPU

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President Lee said that the "people made wise choices. The government will do its best to manage state affairs in a stable manner and take care of the people's livelihood". The DUP's secretary-general Park Sun-sook conceded the election and added: "The DUP failed to turn public calls for punishing the ... ruling party into reality. We apologise for disappointing supporters. We will sincerely think over what today's election means and try ceaselessly to be reborn as a party the people can lean and rely on."^[1] Sim Dae-pyung, leader of the Liberty Forward Party, announced his resignation after the party's poor performance.^[38]

On 13 April, the DUP leader Han Myeong-sook announced her resignation on account of her party's defeat.^[39]

• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2012–2016

1.^ Comparison includes the Pro-Park Coalition, which split from and subsequently reintegrated with the Grand National Party.

2.^ This survey asked separate questions on party support and voting intention. The latter result is reported here.

3.^ This survey dealt specifically with seats allocated by proportional representation.