Voters and Parties in Local Elections: 1995-2006

The revival of local autonomy in the wake of democratization was con-ceived to signal a potentially successful decentralized democracy inKorea. However, in reality, almost half of all eligible voters have notvoted in local elections, indicating a lack of interest in local politics,and this has often been cited as evidence of an ongoing crisis in grass-roots democracy. It is also constantly pointed out that political partiesat the national level have been deeply involved in the local electoralprocess, and thus national politics have often overshadowed local elec-tions. This routine has raised concerns regarding the health of localpolitics.The purpose of this paper is to explain the characteristics of localKorean politics from 1995 to 2006 by focusing on voter participationand party involvements in local elections. This paper also analyzes theelectoral cleavages in voter turnout as well as party support. In addi-tion, the implications of these findings and current issues on autonomyin relation to local politics will be discussed.

keywords: voter turnout, political party, local election, regionalism, local autonomyHwang Ah-Ran (Hwang, A-ran) is an assistant professor in the Department of PublicAdministration at Pusan National University. She received her Ph.D. in Political Sci-ence from, voter turnout, political party, local election, regionalism, local autonomyHwang Ah-Ran (Hwang, A-ran) is an assistant professor in the Department of PublicAdministration at Pusan National University. She received her Ph.D. in Political Sci-ence from

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Article Contents

Vol.46 No.4

Voters and Parties in Local Elections: 1995-2006

Abstract

Reference

Korea Journal