Elections in South Korea are held on a national level to select the President and the National Assembly. Local elections are held every four years to elect governors, metropolitan mayors, municipal mayors, and provincial and municipal legislatures.
The president is directly elected for a single five-year term by plurality vote. The National Assembly has 300 members elected for a four-year term, 253 in single-seat constituencies and 47 members by proportional representation. Each individual party willing to represent its policies in the National Assembly is qualified on the legislative (general) election if: i) the national party-vote reaches over 3% on proportional contest or ii) more than 5 members of the party are elected from each of their first-past-the-post election constituencies.[1]
All citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote. According to Article 34 of the 'Immigration Control Act,' a non-Korean citizen registered in the relevant local constituency and who has had a resident visa for at least three years has the right to vote in local elections.[2]
| President of South Korea | first-past-the-post | National | |
| Member of the National Assembly | first-past-the-post | Constituencies and Party List | |
| Metropolitan Mayor/Governor | first-past-the-post | Provinces | |
| Member of the Metropolitan Council | first-past-the-post | Constituencies and Party List | |
| Superintendent of Education | non-partisan first-past-the-post | Provinces | |
| Municipal Mayor | first-past-the-post | Municipal divisions | |
| Member of the Municipal Council | Single non-transferable vote | Constituencies and Party List |
Polling places are usually located in schools. During theabsentee or early voting period, voters can vote at any place in the country. On election day, voters may only vote at polling places in their registered constituency. Korean voters mark paper ballots with a rubber stamp using red ink. There is one race per ballot paper; if there are multiple offices up for election, ballot papers are colour-coded and voters are issued one ballot per race.[5]
Korea uses a central count model. After the polls close, ballot boxes are sealed and transported to the constituency's counting centre. Traditionally ballots were hand-counted, and optical scanners have been adopted since 3rd local elections held on 13 June 2002. The scanners resemble cash sorter machines, sorting the ballots into stacks by how they are voted. Stacks are then counted using machines resembling currency counting machines.[6]
Korean elections have been praised as a model of best practice.[5] However, the legality of the introduction of optical scan technology has been challenged and there have been allegations of rigged counting.
| Position | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Presidential (May) Local (June) | None | None | Local (June) | Presidential (March) | ||
| President | President | None | President | ||||
| National Assembly | None | All seats | None | ||||
| Provinces, cities and municipalities | All positions | None | All positions | None | |||
| Position | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Presidential (May) Local (July) | None | National Assembly (May) | None | Local (July) | Presidential (May) | |
| President | May 10 | None | May 10 | ||||
| National Assembly | None | May 30 | None | ||||
| Provinces, cities and municipalities | July 1 | None | July 1 | None | |||
See main article: 2024 South Korean legislative election.
See main article: 2022 South Korean local elections.