We elected our first democratically elected president Rhee Syngman in 1948 and since then various government officials in 1952, 1956, 1960, in 1963, 1967 and 1971 and so on. My grandparents participated in all of aforementioned elections, cast a ballot and said they never felt like their opinions were under represented. Yes it had its own flaws (for example, there was a famous mail voting election fraud in 1960 by then vice president Lee Ki boong but people took to the street, did massive protests and in the end overthrew the government. There was a military coup in 1979 but they also eventually resigned after huge civil right movements and protests) but still, it was a massive progress since we were literally either monarchy or under imperial influence where individual people had no voice at all.