Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The monarchy is hereditary. In the House of Councillors (Sangi-in), 98 members are elected by proportional representation to serve 6-year terms and 144 members are elected in multi-seat constituencies to serve 6-year terms. In the House of Representatives (Shugi-in), 300 members are elected in single-seat constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 180 members are elected by proportional representation to serve 4-year terms.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

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Most recent election

(courtesy of wikipedia)

DID YOU KNOW?

The ballot paper used in most elections in Japan automatically unfolds itself in the ballot box, hugely reducing the amount of time and cost of the counting process. Read more...

Japan held a nationwide election to the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower house of the National Diet, on 11 September 2005, about two years before the end of the term taken from the last election in 2003. The then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the election after bills to privatize Japan Post were voted down in the upper house (which cannot be dissolved), despite strong opposition within his own Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP).

The election handed a landslide victory to Koizumi's LDP, with the party winning 296 seats, the largest share in postwar politics; with its partner, New Komeito, the governing coalition now commands two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing them to pass legislative bills without the consent of the upper house and to approve amendments to the Constitution, which are then submitted to the upper house and a national referendum. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which advocated a change of government during campaign, suffered a devastating loss, winning only 113 seats against 175 seats it held going into the election. The setback led the DPJ leader Katsuya Okada to resign, and raised a question whether the DPJ can remain an alternative to the LDP in the future elections.

The small parties made only small gains or losses, with Koizumi's ally, New Komeito, falling slightly from 34 seats to 31 although they got as much as 9 million votes.Of the new parties contesting the election, the New Party Japan fell from three seats to one, while the People's New Party was unchanged at four seats. The Japanese Communist Party held its ground with nine seats, while the Social Democratic Party won seven, a gain of one.