Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 27 February 1973 to elect 146 members of the National Assembly.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 Another 73 members appointed by President Park Chung-hee were indirectly elected by the National Conference for Unification on 7 March 1973.
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 73%.
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. 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. One month before the election, the latter formed the . However, the DUP performed poorly and split the opposition vote, and in the aftermath the members expressed regret for their decision to run.
Electoral system Two-thirds of the seats were elected from two-member constituencies via single non-transferable vote. The remaining one-third of the seats were presidential appointees, nominated by president Park and confirmed by the National Conference for Unification elected in 1972.
Results
By city/province RegionTotalseatsSeats wonDRPNDPDUPInd.Seoul167801Busan84400Gyeonggi169601Gangwon105302North Chungcheong85201South Chungcheong146602North Jeolla124404South Jeolla2010622North Gyeongsang2212505South Gyeongsang1810800Jeju21001Total1467352219
Presidential appointees 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.
By city/province RegionVotesDelegatesForAgainstInvalidVotedAbsentTotalSeoul299203012303Busan95711031104Gyeonggi274422800280Gangwon1351001450145North Chungcheong125201270127South Chungcheong226502310231North Jeolla1871032000200South Jeolla2971133111312North Gyeongsang3351353531354South Gyeongsang2531872780278Jeju250025025Total2,25182212,35452,359Source: Naver News Library
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