South Korean legislative election, 1985

Parliamentary elections were held in South Korea on 12 February 1985.^[1] 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%.

Parties

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 Korea Democratic Party (NKDP) was formed by former members of the Democratic Korea Party, notably opposition leaders Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young-sam. 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 (DJP) 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, however it suffered major defections to the NKDP. The loss of Dae Jung and Young-sam were seen as crucial to the party's setbacks.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Democratic Justice Party	7,040,811	35.2	148	–3
New Korea Democratic Party	5,843,827	29.3	67	New
Democratic Korea Party	3,930,966	19.7	35	–46
Korean National Party	1,828,744	9.2	20	–5
New Socialist Party	288,863	1.4	1	New
Workers and Farmers Party	185,859	0.9	0	New
New Democratic Party	112,654	0.6	1	New
Civil Rights Party	75,634	0.4	0	–2
National Group Party	17,257	0.1	0	New
Independents	650,028	3.3	4	–7
Invalid/blank votes	312,029	–	–	–
Total	20,286,672	100	276	0
Registered voters/turnout	23,987,830	84.6	–	–
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

• Republic of Korea Historical Archive of Parliamentary Elections Results