1977 Japanese House of Councillors election

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1977 Japanese House of Councillors election
Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg
  1974 10 July 1977 1980  

126 of the 252 seats in the House of Councillors
127 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Takeo Fukuda 19761224.jpg Tomomi-Narita-1.png Yoshikatsu-Takeiri-3.png
Leader Takeo Fukuda Tomomi Narita Yoshikatsu Takeiri
Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō
Last election126 seats, 44.3%62 seats, 15.2%24 seats, 12.1%
Seats after1245628
Seat changeDecrease2.svg2Decrease2.svg6Increase2.svg4
Popular vote18,160,0618,805,6177,174,459
Percentage35.8%17.3%14.2%
SwingDecrease2.svg8.5%Increase2.svg2.1%Increase2.svg2.1%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Kenji Miyamoto (cropped).jpg Kasuga-Ikko-1.jpg Yohei Kono 1985.jpg
Leader Kenji Miyamoto Kasuga Ikkō Yōhei Kōno
Party JCP Democratic Socialist New Liberal Club
Last election20 seats, 9.4%10 seats, 5.9%
Seats after16113
Seat changeDecrease2.svg4Increase2.svg1New
Popular vote4,260,0503,387,5411,957,902
Percentage8.4%6.7%3.9%
SwingDecrease2.svg1.0%Increase2.svg0.8%New

President of the House
of Councillors
before election

Kazuo Maeda
LDP

Elected President of the House
of Councillors

Kan Kase
Socialist

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 10 July 1977. Only half of the House of Councillors was up for election.

Contents

The main question of this election was whether or not the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would be able to retain its hold on an absolute majority of the seats in the House of Councillors, something it has maintained since the party's founding in 1955. Early forecasts had speculated that this dramatic downturn for the LDP may have been possible, but in the end the LDP kept its razor-thin hold on majority control by having four LDP-allied independents cooperate with it. As per usual for the time, the LDP did very well in the sparsely populated single member districts and even managed to hold its own not only in the two-member districts, but even in the more heavily urbanised three- and four-member districts which were projected to be tough wins for the LDP. [1]

The LDP's clearest struggling was in the national district, where its popular vote declined by 8.5% when compared to the previous House of Councillors election. In any event, the pessimistic forecasts of the election results ended up influencing the LDP's approach in fielding relatively few candidates, and members of the party believed that if they disregarded the polls and fielded more candidates, they could have won a larger share of the seats in this election. Meanwhile, the Japan Socialist Party also saw a loss in seats (partly due to vote splitting caused by former member Saburō Eda's SCL splinter party siphoning away votes from the JSP.) The Japanese Communist Party also saw a decline in fortunes, with Kōmeitō and the Democratic Socialist Party showing the most promise among well-established opposition parties. [1]

Results

Japan House of Councillors 1977.svg
PartyNationalConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsNot upWonTotal
after
+/–
Liberal Democratic Party 18,160,06135.831820,440,15739.46456163124–2
Japan Socialist Party 8,805,61717.371013,403,21625.8817292756–6
Komeitō 7,174,45914.1693,206,7196.195141428+4
Japanese Communist Party 4,260,0508.4135,159,1429.96211516–4
Democratic Socialist Party 3,387,5416.6842,318,3864.4825611+1
New Liberal Club 1,957,9023.8612,951,9765.702134New
League for Civil Society 1,418,8552.801610,5051.180011New
United Progressive Liberals 1,381,7002.731475,5600.920011New
Women's Party of Japan161,6920.32045,3280.090000New
Other parties207,0560.410702,9001.361011
Independents3,767,6627.4332,485,2924.8024590
Vacant1011
Total50,682,595100.005051,799,181100.00771251272520
Valid votes50,682,59594.5051,799,18196.56
Invalid/blank votes2,952,1935.501,843,4153.44
Total votes53,634,788100.0053,642,596100.00
Registered voters/turnout78,321,71568.4878,321,71568.49
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, [2] [3] National Diet

By constituency

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
LDP JSP Kōmeitō DSP JCP NLC LCSUPLOthersInd.
Aichi 3111
Akita 11
Aomori 11
Chiba 211
Ehime 11
Fukui 11
Fukuoka 3111
Fukushima 211
Gifu 11
Gunma 211
Hiroshima 211
Hokkaido 422
Hyōgo 3111
Ibaraki 211
Ishikawa 11
Iwate 11
Kagawa 11
Kagoshima 211
Kanagawa 211
Kōchi 11
Kumamoto 22
Kyoto 211
Mie 11
Miyagi 11
Miyazaki 11
Nagano 211
Nagasaki 11
Nara 11
Niigata 211
Ōita 11
Okinawa 11
Okayama 211
Osaka 3111
Saga 11
Saitama 211
Shiga 11
Shimane 11
Shizuoka 211
Tochigi 211
Tokushima 11
Tokyo 41111
Tottori 11
Toyama 11
Wakayama 11
Yamagata 11
Yamaguchi 11
Yamanashi 11
National5018109431113
Total1266327146531115

References

  1. 1 2 Uchida, Mitsuru; Baerwald, Hans H. (1978). "The House of Councillors Election in Japan: The LDP Hangs in There" . Asian Survey. 18 (3): 301–308. doi:10.2307/2643222. ISSN   0004-4687.
  2. Table 13: Persons Elected and Votes Polled by Political Parties - Ordinary Elections for the House of Councillors (1947–2004) Archived 2011-03-23 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
  3. "27-11 Allotted Number, Candidates, Eligible Voters as of Election Day, Voters and Voting Percentages of Ordinary Elections for the House of Councillors (1947-2004)". Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Archived from the original on 2006-01-04.