2016 South Korean legislative election

2016 South Korean legislative election

← 2012 13 April 2016 2020 →

All 300 seats in the National Assembly
151 seats needed for a majority
Turnout58.15% (Increase3.91pp; Const. votes)
58.03% (Increase3.79pp; PR votes)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Kim Chong-in Kim Moo-sung
Party Democratic Saenuri
Last election 127 seats[a] 157 seats[b]
Seats won 123 122
Seat change Decrease4 Decrease 35
Constituency vote 8,881,369 9,200,690
% and swing 37.00% (Decrease0.85pp) 38.33% (Decrease7.15pp)
Regional vote 6,069,744 7,960,272
% and swing 25.55% (Decrease11.09pp) 33.50% (Decrease12.54pp)

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Ahn Cheol-soo
Chun Jung-bae
Sim Sang-jung
Party People Justice
Last election Did not exist Did not exist
Seats won 38 6
Seat change New New
Constituency vote 3,565,451 395,357
% and swing 14.85% (New) 1.65% (New)
Regional vote 6,355,572 1,719,891
% and swing 26.75% (New) 7.24% (New)


Speaker before election

Chung Eui-hwa
Saenuri

Elected Speaker

Chung Sye-kyun
Democratic

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 13 April 2016. All 300 members of the National Assembly were elected, 253 from first-past-the-post constituencies and 47 from proportional party lists. The election was an upset victory for the liberal Democratic Party, which defied opinion polling by winning a plurality of seats in the election and defeating the ruling conservative Saenuri Party by one seat. In votes for party lists, however, Democratic Party came third, behind the Saenuri Party in first place and the new People Party in second.

The election marked an upheaval in the South Korean party system, installing a hung parliament for the first time since 2000 and a three-party system for the first time since 1996.[1] The People Party attained a kingmaker position in the new Assembly, while the leadership of the Saenuri Party including chairman Kim Moo-sung resigned en masse following their defeat, relinquishing control of the party to an emergency response commission.

The 2016 legislative election was the first to be held in South Korea following the formation of the People Party and the enforcement of controversial Constitutional Court rulings dissolving the left-wing Unified Progressive Party and mandating the redistricting of the Assembly's constituencies.


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  1. ^ "Minority People's Party steals show: Ahn's Party holds balance of power as three party system dawns". The Korea Herald. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.