1963 South Korean presidential election explained

Country:Republic of Korea
Flag Year:1949
Type:presidential
Previous Election:August 1960 South Korean presidential election
Previous Year:1960
Next Election:1967 South Korean presidential election
Next Year:1967
Election Date:15 October 1963
Image1:Park Chung-hee 1963's.png
Nominee1:Park Chung Hee
Party1:Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)
Popular Vote1:4,702,640
Percentage1:46.65%
Nominee2:Yun Posun
Party2:Civil Rule
Popular Vote2:4,546,614
Percentage2:45.10%
Map Size:250px
President
Before Election:Park Chung Hee (acting)
Before Party:Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)
After Election:Park Chung Hee
After Party:Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)

Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 15 October 1963.[1] 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, who won 46.6% of the vote, securing a transition to civilian rule under his Democratic Republican Party. Voter turnout was 85.0%.[2] [3]

The elections were marked by a number of irregularities.[4]

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

Civilian

Civilian politicians were deeply divided into multiple parties rather than unifying against Park. On 14 May, Former President Yun Posun 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 Heo Jeong 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.[5] [6]

Results

By province

Province or cityPark Chung HeeYun PosunOh Jae-youngByun Young-taeJang I-seokTotal
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
Seoul371,627(30.1%)802,052(65.1%)20,634(1.6%)26,728(2.2%)10,537(0.9%)1,231,578ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:30.1 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:30.1 till:95.2 color:gold width:0.2in
Gyeonggi384,764(33.1%)661,984(56.9%)54,770(4.7%)34,775(3.0%)27,554(2.4%)1,163,847ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:33.1 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:33.1 till:90.0 color:gold width:0.2in
Gangwon296,711(40.0%)368,092(49.1%)35,568(4.7%)24,924(3.3%)24,528(3.3%)749,823ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:40.0 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:40.0 till:89.1 color:gold width:0.2in
Chungnam405,077(40.8%)490,663(49.4%)47,364(4.8%)26,639(2.7%)23,359(2.4%)993,102ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:40.8 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:40.8 till:90.2 color:gold width:0.2in
Chungbuk202,789(39.8%)249,397(48.9%)26,911(5.3%)15,699(3.1%)14,971(2.9%)509,767ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:39.8 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:39.8 till:88.7 color:gold width:0.2in
Jeonnam765,712(57.2%)480,800(35.9%)51,714(3.9%)17,312(1.3%)22,604(1.7%)1,338,142ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:57.2 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:57.2 till:93.1 color:gold width:0.2in
Jeonbuk408,556(49.4%)343,171(41.5%)27,906(3.4%)18,617(2.3%)18,223(2.2%)826,473ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:49.4 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:49.4 till:90.9 color:gold width:0.2in
Busan242,779(48.2%)239,038(47.5%)11,214(2.2%)7,106(1.4%)3,419(0.7%)503,601ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:48.2 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:48.2 till:95.7 color:gold width:0.2in
Gyeongnam706,079(61.7%)341,971(29.9%)60,645(5.3%)19,323(1.7%)26,014(2.3%)1,144,032ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:61.7 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:61.7 till:91.6 color:gold width:0.2in
Gyeongbuk837,124(55.6%)543,392(36.1%)58,079(3.9%)31,113(2.1%)34,622(2.3%)1,504,330ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:55.6 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:55.6 till:91.7 color:gold width:0.2in
Jeju81,422(70.0%)26,009(22.3%)3,859(3.3%)2,207(1.9%)3,006(2.6%)116,503ImageSize = width:100 height:25PlotArea = left:0 bottom:0 top:0 right:0TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:100TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = earlyColors = id:gray value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) id:blue value:rgb(0.2,0.32,0.48) id:gold value:rgb(1,0.87,0)BarData = bar:WikipediasPlotData= bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:100 color:gray width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:0 till:70.0 color:blue width:0.2in bar:Wikipedias from:70.0 till:92.3 color:gold width:0.2in

Notes and References

  1. [Dieter Nohlen]
  2. Nohlen et al., p464
  3. "Park Declared Winner In Korea" The Miami News, 19 October 1963, p8A
  4. Book: Kim. Byung-Kook. The Park Chung Hee Era. 2011. Harvard University Press. 978-0674061064. 353–354.
  5. Book: 이, 윤섭. 박정희 정권의 시작과 종말 1. 2012-07-31. ebookspub(이북스펍). 9788997293094. ko.
  6. Web site: 신정당(新政黨). Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. ko. 2018-04-21.

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