1989 Japanese House of Councillors election

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1989 Japanese House of Councillors election
Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg
  1986 23 July 1989 1992  

126 of the 252 seats in the House of Councillors
127 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Sosuke Uno 1977.png Takako Doi in Tokyo congressist election 2.jpg Koshiro Ishida Hosokawa Cabinet 19930809 kaidan2.jpg
Leader Sōsuke Uno Takako Doi Koshiro Ishida
Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō
Last election140 seats, 38.6%41 seats, 17.2%24 seats, 13.0%
Seats after1096620
Seat changeDecrease2.svg31Increase2.svg25Decrease2.svg4
Popular vote15,343,45519,688,2526,097,971
Percentage27.3%35.1%10.9%
SwingDecrease2.svg11.3%Increase2.svg17.9%Decrease2.svg2.1%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Kenji Miyamoto (cropped).jpg Eiichi Nagasue 197102.jpg
Leader Kenji Miyamoto Eiichi Nagasue
Party JCP Democratic Reform Democratic Socialist
Last election16 seats, 9.5%12 seats, 6.9%
Seats after14128
Seat changeDecrease2.svg2NewDecrease2.svg4
Popular vote3,954,4082,726,419
Percentage7.0%4.9%
SwingDecrease2.svg2.5%NewDecrease2.svg2.0%

President of the House
of Councillors
before election

Yoshihiro Tsuchiya
LDP

Elected President of the House
of Councillors

Yoshihiro Tsuchiya
LDP

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 23 July 1989.

Contents

There were several controversial issues dominating the pre-election atmosphere, all of which reflected negatively on the ruling LDP. The most important, according to most polls, was the introduction of an unpopular 3% consumption tax law which had been forced through the Diet by Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita despite boycotts by the opposition parties, an act which hurt the LDP's image with the public. A second issue was the infamous Recruit scandal, which induced the resignation of Takeshita and his cabinet members and left a major stain on the LDP's integrity to the public. There was also resistance to the LDP's gradual adoption of import liberalisation of food products, which lost the party their traditional rural voters resentful of farm imports. [1] Even more, there was incumbent Prime Minister Sōsuke Uno's sex scandal which had come to light only a month earlier.

The result of all of this negative feeling towards the LDP was an unprecedented victory for the Japan Socialist Party (JSP), roughly doubling its share of the popular vote when compared to the previous House of Councillors elections, and being the only major pre-existing party to see a net increase in its share of the popular vote; the other opposition parties, which had more success in the past while the JSP stagnated, saw net decreases in both popular votes as well as seat numbers. Moreover, although the Japanese Communist Party has historically contributed to vote splitting by fielding candidates in every district, the overall decline in support for the JCP is thought to have helped jointly-backed opposition candidates in this election. In any event, the JSP would cooperate with the other opposition parties in order to form a majority coalition over a minority LDP, a historical first for the House of Councillors. [2]

Meanwhile, the LDP lost the popular vote in an election for the first time in its history, and the only one-seat districts won by the LDP were Toyama, Shiga, and Wakayama. The LDP's losses were strongest in single-member constituencies, but less strongly felt in multi-member constituencies, no doubt partly due to the above-mentioned relative lack of vote splitting in this election. After this election, the LDP designated as its new leader Toshiki Kaifu, who belonged to the same historical faction as Takeo Miki, and who, like Miki, was reform-minded; ironically, Kaifu later defected from the LDP in the mid-1990s in order to join the opposition, although he eventually returned to the LDP in the 21st century. [2]

Results

Japan House of Councillors 1989.svg
PartyNationalConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsNot upWonTotal
after
+/–
Japan Socialist Party 19,688,25235.052015,009,45126.3826204666+25
Liberal Democratic Party 15,343,45527.321517,466,40630.70217336109–31
Kōmeitō 6,097,97110.8662,900,9475.104101020–4
Japanese Communist Party 3,954,4087.0445,012,4248.8119514–2
Democratic Socialist Party 2,726,4194.8522,066,5333.631538–4
Dainiin Club 1,250,0222.231112–1
Tax Affairs Party 1,179,9392.101889,6331.561123+1
Sports and Peace Party 993,9891.771011New
Democratic Reform Party 3,878,7836.821111112New
Other parties4,936,8738.7902,312,7334.061112
Independents7,362,72312.941051015+8
Total56,171,328100.005056,899,633100.00761261262520
Valid votes56,171,32896.1356,899,63397.35
Invalid/blank votes2,262,7343.871,546,7322.65
Total votes58,434,062100.0058,446,365100.00
Registered voters/turnout89,891,35865.0189,891,35865.02
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, [3] [4] National Diet

By constituency

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
JSP LDP DRP Kōmeitō JCP DSP TAP DC SPP OthersInd.
Aichi 3111
Akita 11
Aomori 11
Chiba 211
Ehime 11
Fukui 11
Fukuoka 3111
Fukushima 211
Gifu 11
Gunma 211
Hiroshima 211
Hokkaido 41111
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
National502015642111
Total1264636111053211110

References

  1. Smith, Charles (10 August 1989). "Life after harakiri". Far Eastern Economic Review. p. 1517.
  2. 1 2 Baerwald, Hans H. (1989). "Japan's House of Councillors Election: A Mini-Revolution?" . Asian Survey. 29 (9): 833–841. doi:10.2307/2644829. ISSN   0004-4687. JSTOR   2644829.
  3. 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
  4. "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 4 January 2006.