November 21, 1972 (Tue.) The 3rd National Referendum

President Park Chung-hee, succeeded in holding the presidency for three times in a row by winning in the 7th Presidential Election in 1971, started another constitutional revision to establish the ‘medium constituency system.’ He dissolved the National Assembly with a special declaration on October 17, 1972 and the Emergency Cabinet Council replaced the role of the Assembly. Since then, the Emergency Cabinet Council voted for the Act on Special Cases Concerning the National Referendum on October 23. The main issues of the Act were on a nullification of the copied voter list’s issuance system, an instruction and guidance for the national referendum by the National Election Commission at each level, a ban on campaigns for or against the national referendum, an abolition of marking ballot papers with an official stamp by party representatives, and an exclusion of staff related to voting or opening a ballot box from a political party nomination.
The constitutional amendment dealt mainly with an indirect presidential election by the National Council for Unification and an appointment of one third of the National Assemblymen by the president. The date of the national referendum for the constitutional amendment was set on November 21, 1972. Meanwhile, the National Election Commission was provided with a new job of giving instructions and information on the national referendum and it exerted efforts to keep fairness in carrying out its duty. The prime minister, ministers in the cabinet, city councilors, provincial governors and heads of district, town and county were also requested to do the same responsibility: Giving instructions and guidance for the national referendum.
As a result, 91.9% or 14,410,714 out of 15,676,395 constituents cast a vote. Among them, 91.5% or 13,186,559 said yes for the constitutional amendment.