1980 South Korean presidential election
Indirect presidential elections were held in South Korea on 27 August 1980 to fill the vacancy caused by President Choi Kyu-hah's resignation.
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2,540 members of the National Conference for Unification 1,271 votes needed to win | ||||||||||||||
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Votes of the National Conference for Unification
Chun Doo-hwan: 2524 Invalid/blank: 1 Did not vote: 15 | ||||||||||||||
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Under the 1972 Yushin Constitution, the president was elected by the National Conference for Unification, whose 2,540 members had been elected for a six-year term of office in December 1978. General Chun Doo-hwan was the only candidate, and was elected unopposed.
Chun was to serve for the remainder of the 1978–1984 term of longtime president Park Chung-hee, who had died in 1979 and been replaced by Choi. However, Chun subsequently decided to stage a coup and end the Fourth Republic and draft a new constitution, which was promulgated in October 1980 after being approved in a referendum. The first presidential election under the new constitution was held in February 1981, and Chun was elected by an overwhelming majority under controversial circumstances.