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Analysis of Turnout of Korean Past Elections (1987-2006)

Kyungtae Kang 1

1신라대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

Korea has marked falling tendency of turnout recently. This study scrutinized turnout of all the last Korean elections including presidential, general and local ones held past 20 years finding out its reasons of decreasing trend. The study employed cross-sectional time-series analysis, composed of 14 elections longitudinally and of 16 cities and provinces horizontally. Although South Korea experienced economic boom due to export growth between late 1980s and the middle of 1990s, the nation suffered the International Monetary Fund's rescue late 1990s. Once-strong Korean economy was damaged by economic slowdown and uncertainties such as structural adjustments, nationwide conflicts between labor and management, transference of companies overseas and office automation, leading to increasing unemployment and consumer products. Accordingly such political factors as lower turnout among voters living in the cities and higher turnout among ones living in the countries, regionalism, level of electoral competition were found not to be significant in affecting turnout. Yet economic ones were constraints. Higher unemployment or consumer price index prompted to lower turnout while higher employment increased turnout rate. Thus in order to expand Korean turnout rate, complimentary system that would benefit voters would resolve Korean turnout problems. It should be the economic recovery that will serve the interest of turnout in the mid and longer terms.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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