# 1973 South Korean legislative election

Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 27 February 1973 to elect 146 members of the National Assembly. 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 Democratic Unification Party [ko]. 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

252731973 :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | Democratic Republican Party | 4,251,754 | 38.68 | 73 | –40 |
| | New Democratic Party | 3,577,300 | 32.55 | 52 | –37 |
| | Democratic Unification Party | 1,114,204 | 10.14 | 2 | New |
| | Independents | 2,048,178 | 18.63 | 19 | New |
| Presidential appointees | Presidential appointees | | | 73 | New |
| Total | Total | 10,991,436 | 100.00 | 219 | +15 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 10,991,436 | 98.17 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 205,048 | 1.83 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 11,196,484 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 15,690,130 | 71.36 | | |
| Source: Nohlen et al. ||||||

### By city/province

| Region | Total seats | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won |
| Region | Total seats | DRP | NDP | DUP | Ind. |
| Seoul | 16 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1 |
| Busan | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Gyeonggi | 16 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Gangwon | 10 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| North Chungcheong | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| South Chungcheong | 14 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| North Jeolla | 12 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| South Jeolla | 20 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| North Gyeongsang | 22 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| South Gyeongsang | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeju | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 146 | 73 | 52 | 2 | 19 |

### 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.
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| Presidential appointees | Presidential appointees | 2,251 | 96.49 | 73 |
| Against | Against | 82 | 3.51 | – |
| Total | Total | 2,333 | 100.00 | 73 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,333 | 99.11 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 21 | 0.89 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 2,354 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,359 | 99.79 | |
| Source: Naver News Library |||||

#### By city/province

| Region | Votes | Votes | Votes | Delegates | Delegates | Delegates |
| Region | For | Against | Invalid | Voted | Absent | Total |
| Seoul | 299 | 2 | 0 | 301 | 2 | 303 |
| Busan | 95 | 7 | 1 | 103 | 1 | 104 |
| Gyeonggi | 274 | 4 | 2 | 280 | 0 | 280 |
| Gangwon | 135 | 10 | 0 | 145 | 0 | 145 |
| North Chungcheong | 125 | 2 | 0 | 127 | 0 | 127 |
| South Chungcheong | 226 | 5 | 0 | 231 | 0 | 231 |
| North Jeolla | 187 | 10 | 3 | 200 | 0 | 200 |
| South Jeolla | 297 | 11 | 3 | 311 | 1 | 312 |
| North Gyeongsang | 335 | 13 | 5 | 353 | 1 | 354 |
| South Gyeongsang | 253 | 18 | 7 | 278 | 0 | 278 |
| Jeju | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 25 |
| Total | 2,251 | 82 | 21 | 2,354 | 5 | 2,359 |
| Source: Naver News Library |||||||