1981 South Korean legislative election


Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 25 March 1981.
The new electoral system abolished appointed seats, which was replaced by proportional representation. The result was a victory for the Democratic Justice Party, which won 151 of the 276 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 77.7%.
The election was held under the influence of Coup d'état of 1979 and 1980. Major opposition political figures like Kim Young-sam was barred from running. Kim Dae-jung was arrested on May 17, 1980, and was a prisoner under death row, having been convicted of a fabricated charge of "inciting rebellion". Even the conservative Democratic Republican Party of Park Chung-hee was forcibly dissolved, and major figures like Kim Jong-pil was barred from running.
The election, while ostensibly a multi-party election, is widely considered to have been a fraudulent one, with supposed "opposition" politicians being heavily vetted by the Agency for National Security Planning and the South Korean Army Security Command.

Results