English III
The ROK National Assembly is a unicameral legislature in which district representatives are elected every four years and political parties choose representatives proportionally, by vocation and specialty, based on approval by party mem- bers. In the 19th National Assembly voting of April 2012, a total of 246 district representatives were elected, including 127 seats for the Saenuri Party, 106 for the Democratic United Party, seven for the Unified Progressive Party, three for the Liberty Forward Party, and three independents. Representatives chosen proportionately included 25 seats for the Saenuri Party, 21 for the Demo- cratic United Party, six for the Unified Progres- sive Party, and two for the Liberty Forward Party. The National Assembly elections reflected a regional voting pattern similar to that of the presi- dential election. Analyzing the results of the 17th, 18th, and 19th elections revealed little change in the af liations of election winners outside of the Greater Seoul Metropolitan area. In addition, as the constituency of the members of the National Assembly have adopted a sin- gle-member constituency, by which a candidate who receives a majority of votes is elected, many votes are wasted in areas where the difference in approval ratings for competing political parties is narrow. The number of women elected to the Na- tional Assembly is increasingly proportionate, but the proportion of women elected to local positions is still low.
page_2 |
