Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

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 15 October 1963. They were the first elections since the 1961 May Coup, and the first during the Third Republic. The result was a narrow victory for the acting incumbent and leader of the governing military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction,

Park Chung Hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...

, who won 46.6% of the vote, securing a transition to civilian rule under his Democratic Republican Party. Voter turnout was 85.0%. The elections were marked by a number of irregularities.

Background

General Park Chung-hee, who had led the military government of South Korea since his coup in 1961, agreed to return the power to civil politicians on 8 April 1963, at the same time as announcing he would run for the presidency of the new civilian government. This was after he announced his plans to extend the military rule for another four years, to which United States reacted by threatening to cease all economic aid.

Nominations

Military

The military formed the Democratic Republican Party in February, and Park Chung-hee, who had officially retired from military service the day before, accepted DRP nomination for president in October. On 3 September, members of the military that were critical of Park's dictatorial behaviour split and formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), nominating former Chief of Staff of the Army and former interim prime minister

Song Yo-chan Song Yo Chan (; February 13, 1918 – October 18, 1980) was prime minister (Chief Cabinet Minister - Military Rule) of South Korea from 3 July 1961 to 16 June 1962. Previously, he had been the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade fr ...

for president. Members of the party were oppressed by the government for doing this. Song later withdrew and endorsed

Yun Posun Yun Po-sun (; or ; August 26, 1897 – July 18, 1990) was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the second president of South Korea from 1960 to 1962. He was the only president of the parliamentary Second Republic of Korea. H ...

Civilian

Civilian politicians were deeply divided into multiple parties rather than unifying against Park. On 14 May, Former President

and his followers founded the Civil Rule Party (CRP), which nominated Yun as its presidential candidate. Also claiming to represent the civilian politicians was the New Politics Party (NPP), which nominated former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Heo Jeong Ho Chong, Huh Chung, or Heo Jeong (; April 8, 1896September 18, 1988) was a South Korean politician and Korean independence activist, who served as the sixth Prime Minister of South Korea during the country's Second Republic. In 1960, he was a ...

as its candidate. When it became clear that Park would win easily if both candidates ran, Yun suggested that the civilians unite under one party, which the NPP agreed to. The People's Party (PP) was officially founded in September, uniting the CRP, NPP and Democratic Friendship Party of former Prime Minister Lee Beom-seok. However, after failing to reach an agreement on whether to nominate Yun or Heo for president, on 13 September, the Civil Rule Party split from the PP and officially re-nominated Yun for president. The factions of Heo and Lee, which remained in the PP, nominated Heo. On 2 October, Heo withdrew his bid for presidency and endorsed Yun, hoping to help defeat Park.

Results

By province

References

{{South Korean elections

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Presidential elections in South Korea