1979 South Korean presidential election

1979 South Korean presidential election

← 1978 6 December 1979 1980 →

2,560 members of the National Conference for Unification
1,281 votes needed to win
 
Nominee Choi Kyu-hah
Party Independent
Electoral vote 2,465

Votes of the National Conference for Unification
  Choi Kyu-hah: 2465
  Invalid/Blank: 84
  Did not vote: 11

President before election

Choi Kyu-hah (Acting)
Independent

Elected President

Choi Kyu-hah
Independent

Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 6 December 1979 following the assassination of Park Chung Hee on 26 October. The members of the National Conference for Unification, who among other things, were responsible for election of president, choose Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah as the President of the Republic of Korea unopposed; Choi had been acting President since Park's death.[1]

President Choi was supposed to serve for the remainder of late President Park's term, which would have ended in 1984. However, a coup d'état took place six days after the elections, with Chun Doo-hwan seizing power. He allowed Choi to remain in power for eight months, before being elected president in August 1980.

  1. ^ Asia Watch Committee (1986). Human Rights in Korea. p. 31.