Legislative elections were held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

on April 9, 2008. The conservative

Grand National Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Hanna ...

won 153 of 299 seats while the main opposition United Democratic Party won 81 seats. This election marked the lowest-ever voter turnout of 46.0%.Political apathy leads to record-low voter turnout

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' (, literally "The Korean Nation" or "One Nation") is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternat ...

, Retrieved on April 10, 2008

Political parties

As of April 9, 2008, there were six political parties represented in the 18th

National Assembly of South Korea The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly in domestic English-language media, is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. T ...

, in addition to independents: *

(한나라당, ''Hannara-dang''), led by Kang Jae-seop. The current major conservative party within the National Assembly. (153 seats won) * United Democratic Party (통합민주당, ''Tongham Minju-dang''), led by

Son Hak-gyu Sohn Hak-kyu (born 22 November 1947) is a South Korean politician and the former governor of Gyeonggi-do, the most populous province in Korea. He became a politician in 1996 as a congressman of Grand National Party, and became a governor of Gy ...

. The current major liberal party within the National Assembly. (81 seats won) * Liberty Forward Party (자유선진당, ''Jayu Seonjin-dang''), led by

Lee Hoi-chang Lee Hoi-chang (; born June 2, 1935) is a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the 26th Prime Minister of South Korea from 1993 to 1994. He was a presidential candidate in the 15th, 16th and 17th presidential elections of South K ...

. The Chungcheong Region-strongholder and current second conservative party within the National Assembly against the GNP. (18 seats won) * Pro-Park Alliance (친박연대, ''Chin-bak Yeon-dae''), led by Seo Cheong-won, although their inspirational leader is former GNP leader

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the fi ...

. A conservative coalition with

within the National Assembly that broke away from the GNP after a dispute on the GNP's candidate nomination, which happened just before the election. (14 seats won) * Democratic Labor Party (민주노동당, ''Minju Nodong-dang''), led by Chun Young-se. A minor but the most progressive party within the 18th National Assembly, against both the Grand Nationals and Democrats. (5 seats won) *

Creative Korea Party Creative Korea Party (; CKP) was a political party of South Korea. It was formed out of the Uri Party and its resulting civil splinter groups, with their leader Moon Kook-hyun, a well-known former business leader who recently started his poli ...

(창조한국당, ''Changjo Hanguk-dang''), led by Moon Kook-hyun. A minor but pro-environmental liberal party within the National Assembly, against the Grand Nationals. (3 seats won) *(no seats) The New Progressive Party (진보신당) ''Jinbo Shin-dang''), led by Sim Sang-jeong and Roh Hoe-chan, won 2.94% votes but not enough to gain any seats. The New Progressive Party split from the Democratic Labor Party as a reaction to nationalism after the 2007 presidential elections.

Results

By region

Notes

References

{{South Korean elections 2008 elections in South Korea Legislative elections in South Korea