Tuesday, May 25, 1971 The 8th National Assembly Elections

The 8th Election of the National Assembly members was held one month after the 7th Presidential Election. The number of seats increased to 204, compared to that of the 7th National Assembly Elections,: by 22 for the local constituencies and 7 for the national constituency. A total of 153 members were directly elected in local constituencies through a single-member constituency system, while 51 were elected in the national constituency. The criteria for quota under the national constituency of each political party were strengthened whereby now the party shall win more than 5 seats from the local constituency or more than 5% of valid votes for qualification (previously, it was more than 3 seats and more than 5% of votes.).
For the local constituency elections, 577 ran in the race, recording an average competition rate of 3.8 to 1. Non-partisan candidates were still not able to run since only those who had been recommended by a political party qualified as candidates.
The Democratic Republican Party held the majority by winning 113 seats (86 and 27 for the local and national constituency each, respectively) or 55.4%. The New People’s Party won 89 seats (65 and 24 for the local and national constituency each, respectively).