2003 Japanese general election

Last updated

2003 Japanese general election
Flag of Japan.svg
  2000 November 9, 2003 2005  

All 480 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan
241 seats needed for a majority
Turnout59.85% (Decrease2.svg2.64pp; Const. votes)
59.80% (Decrease2.svg2.64pp; PR votes)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Junichiro Koizumi 20010426 (cropped 2).jpg Naoto Kan 20071221 (cropped).jpg Komeito Logo (Japan).svg
Leader Junichiro Koizumi Naoto Kan Takenori Kanzaki
Party Liberal Democratic Democratic Komeito
Last election233 seats127 seats31 seats
Seats won23717734
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 4Increase2.svg 50Increase2.svg 3
Constituency vote26,089,32721,814,154886,507
 % and swing43.85% (Decrease2.svg4.31pp)36.66% (Increase2.svg5.68pp)1.49% (Decrease2.svg0.53pp)
Regional vote20,660,18522,095,6368,733,444
 % and swing34.96% (Increase2.svg6.65pp)37.39% (Increase2.svg1.20pp)14.78% (Decrease2.svg1.81pp)

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Kazuo Shii cropped.jpg Takako Doi in Tokyo congressist election 2.jpg
Leader Kazuo Shii Takako Doi
Party Communist Social Democratic
Last election20 seats19 seats
Seats won96
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 11Decrease2.svg 13
Constituency vote4,837,9531,708,672
 % and swing8.13% (Decrease2.svg3.95pp)2.87% (Decrease2.svg0.93pp)
Regional vote4,586,1723,027,390
 % and swing7.76% (Decrease2.svg3.47pp)5.12% (Decrease2.svg4.24pp)

2003 JAPAN GENERAL ELECTION, winner vote share.svg
Districts and PR districts, shaded according to winners' vote strength

Prime Minister before election

Junichiro Koizumi
Liberal Democratic

Elected Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi
Liberal Democratic

General elections were held in Japan on November 9, 2003. Incumbent Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats in the House of Representatives but failed to secure a majority. The main opposition Democratic Party made considerable gains, winning 177 of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives, its largest share ever. Other traditional parties like the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party lost substantial numbers of seats, marking the start of a newly consolidated two-party system in Japanese politics, which would end in 2012 with the emergence of Japan Restoration Party.

Background

On October 11, 2003, following his re-election as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party on September 20, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives of Japan's Diet. This action was in accordance with Article 7 of the Constitution of Japan, which grants the Prime Minister the authority to dissolve the lower house after consulting the Emperor.

This election marked the first since Koizumi assumed the role of Prime Minister in April 2001. The primary contenders were the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Democratic Party (DPJ). The LDP continued to enjoy robust support in rural regions and among the elderly, largely due to substantial agricultural subsidies, while the DPJ was more popular with younger voters and in urban centers. Nonetheless, the LDP was favored due to the disproportionate influence of less populated rural districts within Japan's electoral framework.

Key issues addressed by the candidates included the persistent economic recession, known as the Lost Decades; reforms to the public pension system; the level of Japan's involvement in Iraq in support of the U.S.; relations with North Korea; and the privatization of Japan Post Holdings and highways in the Tokyo area.

The preceding general election for the Lower House occurred in June 2000 under the leadership of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Results

Constituency Cartogram 43rd Japanese General Election Cartogram.svg
Constituency Cartogram

National newspapers have reported that the recent election was more favorable to the Democratic Party (DPJ) than to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The DPJ secured a plurality of votes and added 40 seats, becoming the largest opposition party with 177 seats in the lower house. Within the ruling coalition, only New Kōmeitō saw an increase, raising its membership from 31 to 34. Despite Prime Minister Koizumi's high approval ratings, the LDP did not gain additional seats, leading some analysts to view Koizumi as a weakened Prime Minister. However, others note that several non-partisan members were actually aligned with the LDP, including Kato Koichi, suggesting the LDP effectively maintained its seat count.

The LDP was successful in rural regions, whereas the DPJ excelled in urban centers. Voter turnout was 59.86%, marking it the second-lowest since 1945. The new house members had an average age of 51.03 years, which is 3.2 years younger than the previous election's average. A majority of the new members, 302, were born post-1945. Post-election, the number of women in the lower house fell to 34 from the previous 35.

Early poll data and exit polls underscored the impact of swing voters, who comprised 18% of the electorate. The Asahi Shimbun reported that over half of these voters chose the DPJ. Exit polls initially produced varied forecasts, with one predicting the DPJ would secure as many as 230 seats, over 50 more than the actual outcome.

The Liberal Democratic Party did not secure a majority on its own, necessitating the continuation of its coalition with New Kōmeitō and the New Conservative Party.

Japan House of Representatives 2003 2.svg
PartyProportionalConstituencyTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Democratic Party of Japan 22,095,63637.397221,814,15436.66105177+28
Liberal Democratic Party 20,660,18534.966926,089,32743.85168237+4
New Komeito Party 8,733,44414.7825886,5071.49934+3
Japan Communist Party 4,586,1727.7694,837,9538.1309–11
Social Democratic Party 3,027,3905.1251,708,6722.8716–13
New Conservative Party 791,5881.3344–3
Assembly of Independents 497,1080.8411–4
Liberal League  97,4230.16110
Other parties51,5240.0900
Independents2,728,1184.581111–4
Total59,102,827100.0018059,502,374100.003004800
Valid votes59,102,82796.6059,502,37497.24
Invalid/blank votes2,080,4593.401,687,4332.76
Total votes61,183,286100.0061,189,807100.00
Registered voters/turnout102,306,68459.80102,232,94459.85
Source: Election Resources, IPU

By prefecture

PrefectureTotal
seats
Seats won
LDP DPJ NKP NCP SDP AI LL Ind.
Aichi 153102
Akita 3111
Aomori 44
Chiba 1358
Ehime 44
Fukui 33
Fukuoka 11551
Fukushima 5311
Gifu 55
Gunma 55
Hiroshima 761
Hokkaido 1257
Hyōgo 1253211
Ibaraki 761
Ishikawa 321
Iwate 413
Kagawa 33
Kagoshima 541
Kanagawa 18981
Kōchi 33
Kumamoto 5311
Kyoto 633
Mie 532
Miyagi 633
Miyazaki 312
Nagano 532
Nagasaki 431
Nara 422
Niigata 6231
Ōita 321
Okayama 55
Okinawa 4211
Osaka 19694
Saga 321
Saitama 1578
Shiga 413
Shimane 22
Shizuoka 8431
Tochigi 55
Tokushima 321
Tokyo 2512121
Tottori 211
Toyama 33
Wakayama 321
Yamagata 321
Yamaguchi 431
Yamanashi 321
Total3001681059411111

By PR block

PR blockTotal
seats
Seats won
DPJ LDP NKP JCP SDP
Chūgoku 11452
Hokkaido 8431
Hokuriku–Shinetsu11551
Kinki29119531
Kyushu 2178312
Northern Kanto 208831
Shikoku 6231
Southern Kanto 2298311
Tohoku 1456111
Tokai219831
Tokyo 178621
Total18072692595

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Japan</span>

    Politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a dominant-party bicameral parliamentary constitutional monarchy, in which the Emperor is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which directs the executive branch.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Junichiro Koizumi</span> Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006

    Junichiro Koizumi is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is the sixth-longest serving Prime Minister in Japanese history.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Party of Japan</span> 1998–2016 political party in Japan

    The Democratic Party of Japan was a centrist to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016.

    The New Conservative Party (NCP) was the name of two now-defunct political parties in Japan with a common lineage.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on 11 September 2005 for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Diet. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the election almost two years before the end of the term taken from the previous elections in 2003, after bills to privatize Japan Post were voted down in the upper house, despite strong opposition from within his own Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">People's New Party</span> Defunct political party in Japan

    The People's New Party was a Japanese political party formed on August 17, 2005, in the aftermath of the defeat of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Japan Post privatisation bills which led to a snap election. On March 21, 2013, party leader Shozaburo Jimi announced that he was disbanding the party.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">New Party Nippon</span> Political party in Japan

    The New Party Nippon was a Japanese political party formed on August 21, 2005. The party was headed by the former Nagano governor Yasuo Tanaka, and includes Diet members Kōki Kobayashi, Takashi Aoyama, Makoto Taki, and Hiroyuki Arai, who left the Liberal Democratic Party in opposition to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s postal privatization drive.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on 20 October 1996. A coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Party Sakigake and the Social Democratic Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of the LDP won the most seats.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Japanese House of Councillors election</span>

    House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on July 29, 2007. The date was originally to be July 22, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) decided in mid-June to extend the session of the House for a week to finish up legislative business; this step was criticised due to the short-term delay.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 Japanese House of Councillors election</span>

    House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 29 July 2001. They were the first national elections since Junichiro Koizumi became Prime Minister after Yoshiro Mori resigned in April 2001. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its election allies, were the major winner, provided Koizumi a strong mandates to move forward with his reform policies. The ruling coalition performed well, and regain their majority in the House of Councillors.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Japanese House of Councillors election</span>

    House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 12 July 1998.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on August 30, 2009 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition in a landslide, winning 221 of the 300 constituency seats and receiving 42.4% of the proportional block votes for another 87 seats, a total of 308 seats to only 119 for the LDP.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on 16 December 2012. Voters gave the Liberal Democratic Party a landslide victory, ejecting the Democratic Party from power after three years. It was the fourth worst defeat suffered by a ruling party in Japanese history.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Tokyo prefectural election</span>

    Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 12 July 2009. In the runup to the Japanese general election due by October they were seen as an important test for Taro Aso's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito. New Komeito considers Tokyo as an important stronghold and had repeatedly asked Prime Minister Aso to avoid holding the two elections within a month of each other.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Shikoku proportional representation block</span> Proportional Representation Block of the National Diet of Japan

    The Shikoku proportional representation block is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It consists of Shikoku region covering Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi Prefectures. Following the introduction of proportional voting it elected seven representatives in the 1996 general election. When the total number of PR seats was reduced from 200 to 180, the Shikoku PR block shrank to six seats.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Yamaguchi 4th district</span> Japanese parliamentary constituency

    Yamaguchi 4th district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in Western Yamaguchi and consists of the cities of Shimonoseki and Nagato. The seat was held by former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe until his assassination in July 2022. As of September 2011, 266,456 voters were registered in the district, giving its voters well above average vote weight. Unlike many prefectures where the capital is also the most populous city, Yamaguchi's major city is Shimonoseki, located at the western tip of Honshū and adjacent to Kyushu island's Fukuoka-Kitakyūshū metropolitan area which lies just south across the Kanmon Straits.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on 14 December 2014. Voting took place in all Representatives constituencies of Japan including proportional blocks to elect the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. As the cabinet resigns in the first post-election Diet session after a general House of Representatives election, the lower house election also led to a new election of the prime minister in the Diet, won by incumbent Shinzō Abe, and the appointment of a new cabinet. The voter turnout in this election remains the lowest in Japanese history.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election</span> Election for Governor of Tokyo

    The 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on February 9, 2014 to replace outgoing Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned effective December 24, 2013. Yōichi Masuzoe was declared the winner in exit polling, with a substantial lead over the fifteen other candidates. His final tally was 2,112,979 votes (42.86%), with his two closest competitors Morihiro Hosokawa and Kenji Utsunomiya failing to break the 20% mark. Total turnout was 4,930,251 (46.14%), significantly lower than the 62.6% turnout in the 2012 election.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Japanese general election</span>

    General elections were held in Japan on 22 October 2017. Voting took place in all Representatives constituencies of Japan – 289 single-member districts and eleven proportional blocks – in order to appoint all 465 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the then 707-member bicameral National Diet of Japan. Incumbent Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito party retained their seats in signs of what was perceived as weak opposition. The PM won his fourth term in office and held on to the two-thirds supermajority in order to implement policies on revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Koizumi Cabinet</span>

    The Second Koizumi Cabinet was the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during his second term from November 2003 to September 2005. The cabinet was formed after the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito was re-elected with a slightly reduced majority at the November 2003 general elections. The LDP lost 10 of its pre-election seats to become a minority in the National Diet, but immediately regained a majority by absorbing its coalition partner, the New Conservative Party. Koizumi had reshuffled the cabinet less than two months before the election, and so made no changes when he was re-elected by the Diet on November 19.

    References