This thesis aims to characterize the 4th election of members for the National Assembly paying attention to election frauds. In the 4th National Assembly election, the ruling party won a landslide victory at the rural areas, and the opposition party wo...
This thesis aims to characterize the 4th election of members for the National Assembly paying attention to election frauds. In the 4th National Assembly election, the ruling party won a landslide victory at the rural areas, and the opposition party won at the urban areas. However this was not reflected differences of political awareness between urban areas and rural areas, but a greater or lesser degree by the election frauds.
The election frauds had appeared all the elections under Syng-man Rhee regime. But there's a distinction among them. The 1st National Assembly election in 1948 and the 2nd National Assembly election in 1950 appeared obstruction of candidacy and suppression of election campaign. The targets of suppression were mostly Rhee's political opponents and celebrities. In the 3rd National Assembly election in 1954, election frauds was also rife in the process of candidacy and election campaign. But illegality in the process of vote and vote counting had not yet been revealed. On the other hand, the 3rd presidential election in 1956 was widely known as a fraudulent election in the process of the vote counting. Despite the corruption of the vote counting, Bong-am Cho, the Progressive presidential candidate, put up a good fight, and Myon Chang, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, won the election. This was staggering news to Syng-man Rhee. Since then, intensified election frauds were entirely committed all the following elections.
As a preliminary Syng-man Rhee regime came to dominate the local election in August, 1956. And tightening the control of 'Koongminban', government kept a close watch on nation. Before the 4th National Assembly election, through negotiations of election law, Rhee's regime with the Democratic party discluded minor political parties as a donation system. And Rhee's Regime legislated the gaglaw, so they tried to put a gag on the press for criticizing the government party in advance. The election law also had a legal loophole article, election frauds were permitted within maintaining the election result. This article made against the opposition party in the course of the election cases.
The number of election cases was 105, and the election cases were concentrated in Kyongsang province and Jeolla province. The result of the election cases showed 8 invalid elections and 3 part invalid elections. For the first time, the election cases were found unconstitutional. This cast a long shadow, but the invalid elections were only ruled in case of obstructing candidacy and changing elected person by recount. Except these cases, several election frauds didn't consider for lack of evidence.
Despite the election frauds, the Democratic Party secured seats that could protect the constitution. But the election pledge and policy of the Democratic Party made no difference with the Liberal Party and would be unrealistic. The growth of the Democratic Party reflected hostility towards Rhee's regime. There was many factors that the Democratic Party won the election due to the economic crisis, improvement in standards of politics from the expansion of education, enlargement of the press, and damaging political reverse of Rhee's regime. That was the same in rural areas as in unban areas. Therefore severe election frauds only can explain that the ruling party won a landslide victory at the rural areas.
Hostility to Rhee's regime was ever widening, but Rhee's regime could not accept the advices from each field and lesson of last elections. Endangered Syngman Rhee plainly ignored the law, couldn't sit up press reports. By extreme measure of this crisis, Rhee's regime enforced the election frauds at the reelection for the National Assembly and presidential election in 1960, so they led to self-destruction.