May 10, 1948 (Mon.) The 1st National Assembly Elections

On May 10, 1948, the election of members to the Constitutional National Assembly, Korea’s first modern democratic type of election, was held. Through the election, 200 lawmakers whose term in office was 2 years were elected under the single member constituency electoral system. As the Korean government had not been established yet, each level of election commission affiliated with the administrative agency by the U.S. military authorities under the military law, hosted the election.
The voter list was created based on voters’ voluntary registration and the voting right was given to people aged over 21 years old. For a candidate registration, applicants were required to submit letters of recommendation signed and sealed by more than 200 people who were registered in the voter list. Anyone except for members of the election commission and public officials was allowed to conduct campaign activities.
A total of 948 persons from 48 political parties and social groups, including non-partisan individuals, participated in the election. Among the elected, independent individuals accounted for the largest portion. The Korean Independence Promotion Council won 54 seats, while 29 from the Korea Democratic Party, 12 from the United Young Men’s Party and 6 from the Korean National Youth Corps. And 12 political parties and groups accounted for one or two seats. The other 31 political parties and groups did not produce a single winner.