Hannara Party

The Hannara Party (Korean: 한나라당, Hannara-dang) was a political party in South Korea. While former chairman Lee Tae Hee argued that the Hannara Party succeeded Hwanin and Hwanung, the Saenuri Party argued that Hannara Party robbed the Saenuri Party's older name (GNP, which is same in Korean: "한나라당") to confuse conservative voters. However, the South Korean National Party Commission (중앙선관위) supported the legality of the name.^[1]

The party gained 0.85% of the total vote in the 2012 General Election (7th most of 20 parties in a proportional election), thus failing take obtain a seat in National Assembly. In South Korea, a party must gain at least 2% of total vote to take a block seat. Due to the effect of other party names, The Hannara Party was the last party to be listed; due to Korean alphabetical order it was listed in the twentieth position of twenty parties. Overall, the party received 181,748 votes.

After the General Election in April, 2012, the party was dissolved by the National Election Administration Office. Members of the party separated into two parties. Lee Yong-hwi created 'Hope! Hannara Party' and elected Lee Eun-young as the new chairman. She is an incumbent member of the local assembly of Daegu and spouse of Lee Yong-hwi. Hope Hannara Party then changed its name to The New Politics Party (새정치국민의당) in July 2013. Lee Tae Hee, former chairman of The Hannara Party, created the New Hannara Party (새한나라당) to succeed The Hannara Party. New Hannara Party then changed its name to The Grand National Party (한나라당) in February 2014.

Names used

• Liberty Peace Party (Hangul:자유평화당) (2006 to January 2012)
• New Freedom and Peace Party (Hangul:영남신당자유평화당) (January to March 2012)
• The Hannara Party (Hangul:한나라당, Grand National Party) (March to 11 April 2012)

References

1. ‘한나라당’ 재등장… “새누리당, 도둑놈 심보”…로고도 파란색