| Country: | South Korea |
| Flag Year: | 1949 |
| Type: | legislative |
| Previous Election: | 1971 South Korean legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1971 |
| Next Election: | 1978 South Korean legislative election |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
| Turnout: | 71.36% (1.86pp) |
| Seats For Election: | 146 of the 219 seats in the National Assembly |
| Majority Seats: | 110 |
| Election Date: | 27 February 1973 |
| Image1: | Park Chung-hee 1963's.png |
| Leader1: | Park Chung-hee |
| Party1: | Democratic Republican Party (South Korea) |
| Last Election1: | 113 seats |
| Seats1: | 73 |
| Seat Change1: | 40 |
| Popular Vote1: | 4,251,754 |
| Percentage1: | 38.68% |
| Swing1: | 10.09pp |
| Leader2: | Yu Chin-san |
| Party2: | New Democratic Party (South Korea) |
| Last Election2: | 89 seats |
| Seats2: | 52 |
| Seat Change2: | 37 |
| Popular Vote2: | 3,577,300 |
| Percentage2: | 32.55% |
| Swing2: | 11.83pp |
| Image3: | 3x4.svg |
| Leader3: | Yang il-dong |
| Party3: | Democratic Unification Party (South Korea) |
| Last Election3: | Did not exist |
| Seats3: | 3 |
| Seat Change3: | New |
| Popular Vote3: | 1,114,204 |
| Percentage3: | 10.14% |
| Swing3: | New |
| Speaker | |
| Before Election: | None |
| After Party: | Democratic Republican Party (South Korea) |
Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 27 February 1973 to elect 146 members of the National Assembly.[1] Another 73 members appointed by President Park Chung-hee were indirectly elected by the National Conference for Unification on 7 March 1973.[2]
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 72.9%.
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.[3] 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.[4] One month before the election, the latter formed the .[5] [6] However, the DUP performed poorly and split the opposition vote, and in the aftermath the members expressed regret for their decision to run.[7]
Of the elected seats, two members were elected from each constituency via single non-transferable vote.
| Region | Total seats | Seats won | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
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.
| Region | Votes | Delegates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||||||