SEOUL, South Korea — A former dictator’s daughter who cited Queen Elizabeth I of Britain as her role model became the first serious female contender for South Korea’s presidency on Monday when she was chosen as the governing party’s candidate for the election in December.

Park Geun-hye, a daughter of President Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979, is the first woman and the first child of a former president to become the presidential candidate of a major political party in South Korea.

Ms. Park, 60, won the nomination of the Saenuri Party by a huge margin, gathering 84 percent of the votes during a party convention. The remaining ballots were split among four other rivals....