The politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a multi-party bicameral parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy whereby the Emperor is the ceremonial head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which directs the executive branch.
The Democratic Party of Japan was a centrist political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016.
Elections to the Shugi-In of the Japanese Diet were held on 25 June 2000.
The Social Democratic Party, also known as the Social Democratic Party of Japan and previously as the Japan Socialist Party, is a political party that at various times advocated the establishment of a socialist Japan until 1996. Since its reformation and name change in 1996, it has defined itself as a social-democratic party.
The New Frontier Party was a political party in Japan founded in December 1994. As a merger of several small parties, the party was ideologically diverse, with its membership ranging from moderate social democrats to liberals and conservatives. The party dissolved in December 1997, with Ichirō Ozawa's faction forming the Liberal Party and other splinters later joining the Democratic Party of Japan in April 1998.
The Japanese political process has three types of elections: general elections to the House of Representatives held every four years, elections to the House of Councillors held every three years to choose one-half of its members, and local elections held every four years for offices in prefectures, cities, and villages. Elections are supervised by election committees at each administrative level under the general direction of the Central Election Administration Committee, an attached organization to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). The minimum voting age in Japan's non-compulsory electoral system was reduced from twenty to eighteen years in June 2016. Voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot.
A general election in Japan was held on 11 September 2005 for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan, almost two years before the end of the term taken from the last election in 2003. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the election after bills to privatize Japan Post were voted down in the upper house, despite strong opposition within his own Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP).
Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan on 29 July 2001. It was the first national election since Junichiro Koizumi was appointed as 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.
Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan on July 12, 1998.
Taizo Mikazuki is a Japanese politician and the current governor of Shiga Prefecture, having been elected to the position in July 2014. He previously served in the House of Representatives in the Diet as a member of the Democratic Party of Japan.
A general election for the Japanese House of Representatives was held on August 30, 2009. The opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition in a sweeping victory, winning 221 of the 300 electoral districts and receiving 42.4% of the proportional block votes for another 87 seats, a total of 308 seats to only 119 for the LDP.
The 22nd Elections to the House of Councillors for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 11, 2010. In the last election in 2007, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority to the Democratic Party (DPJ), which managed to gain the largest margin since its formation in 1996. The House of Councillors is elected by halves to six-year terms. The seats up for election in 2010 were last contested in the 2004 election.
The Hatomander was an electoral reform proposed in the 1950s by Japanese prime minister Ichirō Hatoyama and his third cabinet. His plan was to replace the SNTV multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives entirely with First-past-the-post single-member districts. The change would have made it easier for Hatoyama's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to gain a two-thirds majority on its own, enabling him to pursue his plan to change the Japanese Constitution, particularly Article 9. The plan faced strong opposition led by the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP) that accused Hatoyama of wanting to "hatomander" the electoral districts to his needs. An electoral reform bill was presented to the Diet in March 1956, passed the House of Representatives in May 1956, but was not voted on in the House of Councillors in a still ongoing debate at the end of the Diet session. The LDP failed to win a majority in the House of Councillors election in July, and the plan was shelved.
The 16th unified local elections in Japan took place in April 2007. In the first phase on April 8, 2007 13 governors, 44 prefectural assemblies as well as four mayors and 15 assemblies in cities designated by government ordinance were elected. In the second phase on April 22, 2007 mayors and/or assemblies in hundreds of cities, special wards, towns and villages were up for election. Additionally, by-elections for the national Diet were held in Fukushima and Okinawa on April 22.
The 48th general election of members of the House of Representatives took place 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 Komeito retained their seats in light of what was perceived as weak opposition, winning his fourth term in office and holding on to the two-thirds supermajority in order to revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
The Liberal Party was a political party in Japan.
The Liberal Party–Hatoyama was a political party in Japan. It was active during 1953.
The 25th regular election of members of the House of Councillors will be held on July 2019 to elect 124 of the 245 members of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the then 710-member bicameral National Diet of Japan, for a term of six years.
