1973 South Korean legislative election

1973 South Korean legislative election

← 1971 27 February 1973 1978 →
146 of the 219 seats in the National Assembly 110 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.36% ( 1.86pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Park Chung-hee Yu Chin-san Yang il-dong Party Democratic Republican New Democratic Democratic Unification Last election 113 seats 89 seats Did not exist Seats won 73 52 3 Seat change 40 37 New Popular vote 4,251,754 3,577,300 1,114,204 Percentage 38.68% 32.55% 10.14% Swing 10.09pp 11.83pp New
Speaker before election None Elected Speaker Chung Il-kwon Democratic Republican

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Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 27 February 1973 to elect 146 members of the National Assembly.^[1] Another 73 members appointed by President Park Chung-hee were indirectly elected by the National Conference for Unification on 7 March 1973.^[2]

The result was a supermajority victory for the ruling Democratic Republican Party, which won 73 of the 146 elected seats in the National Assembly along with the 73 seats filled by Park's appointees. Voter turnout was 72.9%.

The election reconstituted the National Assembly after Park had dissolved it in the October Restoration self-coup four months earlier and pushed through a constitutional referendum which removed presidential term limits and gave him the power to appoint one-third of the National Assembly.^[3] The opposition New Democratic Party had also split in 1972 over a leadership dispute between the Yu Chin-san faction and an opposing faction led by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Hong-il.^[4] One month before the election, the latter formed the Democratic Unification Party [ko].^[5][6] However, the DUP performed poorly and split the opposition vote, and in the aftermath the members expressed regret for their decision to run.^[7]

Of the elected seats, two members were elected from each constituency via single non-transferable vote.

On 7 March 1973, the National Conference for Unification indirectly elected 73 members of the National Assembly appointed by President Park Chung-hee. The number of delegates present was 2,354, with 2,251 delegates approving the election of Park's appointees.^[2]