Japanese House of Councillors election, 2004

Last updated
Japanese House of Councillors election, 2004
Flag of Japan.svg
  2001 July 11, 2004 2007  

121 (of the 242) seats in the House of Councillors
122 seats needed for a majority

 First partySecond partyThird party
  Koizumi 2010 cropped.png Katsuya Okada-Public speaking-2-20050409.jpg Blanksvg.svg
Leader Junichiro Koizumi Katsuya Okada Takenori Kanzaki
Party Liberal Democratic Democratic Komeito
Last election111 seats, 38.6%59 seats, 16.4%23 seats, 15.0%
Seats after1158224
Seat changeIncrease2.svg4Increase2.svg23Increase2.svg1
Popular vote16,797,68621,138,0328,621,265
Percentage30.0%37.8%15.4%
SwingDecrease2.svg8.6%Increase2.svg21.4%Increase2.svg0.4%

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Blanksvg.svg Mizuho Fukushima cropped.jpg
Leader Tetsuzo Fuwa Mizuho Fukushima
Party Communist Social Democratic
Last election20 seats, 7.9%8 seats, 6.6%
Seats after95
Seat changeDecrease2.svg11Decrease2.svg3
Popular vote4,362,5742,990,665
Percentage7.8%5.4%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.1%Decrease2.svg1.2%

JapanCE2004.png
seats won by

- DPJ - LDP - New Komeito
- SDP - Independent factions

Contents

- No election

President of the House of Councillors before election

Hiroyuki Kurata
Liberal Democratic

Elected President of the House of Councillors

Chikage Oogi
Liberal Democratic

Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. The House of Councillors consists of 242 members who serve six-year terms. Approximately half the members are elected every three years. At these elections 121 members were elected. Of these 73 were elected from the 47 prefectural districts and 48 were elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation.

Japan Constitutional monarchy in East Asia

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

Parties

Government
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) Japanese political party

The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, frequently abbreviated to LDP or Jimintō (自民党), is a conservative political party in Japan.

Komeito, formerly called New Komeito, is a political party in Japan founded by members of the Nichiren Buddhist-based new religious movement Soka Gakkai. The party is sometimes called by its former name, Clean Government Party.

Opposition
Japanese Communist Party communist party

The Japanese Communist Party is a political party in Japan and is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.

Social Democratic Party (Japan) political party in Japan

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.

Results

The opposition Democratic Party won a plurality of the popular vote and seats contested in the election, sweeping the liberal urban areas. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party failed to win in its strongholds but once more received most of its support from the agrarian areas. New Komeito did well, reaching its goals, as did the Social Democratic Party. The Japanese Communist Party did not reach its goals, while independents won the rest of the seats. The Liberal League and Midori no kaigi failed to win any seats.

The Liberal League; Japanese Jiyu Rengo (自由連合); was a free market liberal party in Japan. It was a minor party which held one seat in the House of Representatives in the Diet at its peak. The League, whose name can also be translated as "Freedom League" or "Libertarian Union", had a liberal and free market libertarian political agenda.

e    d  Summary of the 11 July 2004 Japanese House of Councillors election results
Alliances and partiesPR Votes%Prefectural seats 2004Proportional seats 2004elected in 2001+/-Total seats+/-
Democratic Party (DPJ) Minshutō21,138,03237.8311932+582+12
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō16,797,68430.0341566-2115-1
New Komeito Party (NKP) Shin Kōmeitō8,621,26715.43813+124+1
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō4,363,1077.8-45-49-11
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō2,990,6675.2-23050
Others2,022,1343.65-207+4
Total (turnout 56.4 %) 7348121242
Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive (2004) and (2001)

Complete list of prefectural races

Elected candidates in bold

Compiled from JANJAN's "The Senkyo" [1] and MIC official results. [2]

JANJAN, short for Japan Alternative News for Justices and New Cultures, was a Japanese online newspaper started by Ken Takeuchi, journalist and former mayor of Kamakura, Kanagawa. Launched in February 2003, the newspaper is credited for pioneering citizen journalism in Japan. After registration, anyone was free to post comments on the JANJAN website. However, there were different windows for registering depending on the nationality or ethnicity of the potential poster.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ministry of Japan

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Central Common Government Office at 2-1-2 Kasumigaseki in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.

Notes:

  • All incumbents not running for re-election in their prefectural electoral district are counted as retirements even if they ran in the nationwide proportional representation.
  • In a multi-member district, there is no difference between Councillors elected with the highest and lower vote shares. Yet, "top tōsen", i.e. being elected with the highest vote, is considered a special achievement and thus noted where changed from the previous election for the same class of Councillors (1998).
  • Niigata is counted as an SDP hold because the elected Councillor joined the SDP parliamentary group.
Northern Japan
PrefectureSeats upIncumbentsPartyResultCandidates
(Party)
Vote share
Hokkaido 2 Naoki Minezaki DPJ Incumbents re-elected
LDP gains top tōsen
Yoshio Nakagawa (LDP) 26.7%
Naoki Minezaki (DPJ) 22.3%
Masahito Nishikawa (DPJ) 19.9%
Muneo Suzuki (I) 17.5%
Chiharu Oka (JCP) 9.2%
Keiko Yamauchi (SDP) 3.8%
Nobuhito Sendai (Ishin) 0.7%
Yoshio Nakagawa LDP
Aomori 1 Masami Tanabu DPJ Incumbent re-elected Masami Tanabu (DPJ) 47.5%
Hidenori Nara (LDP – Komeito) 40.4%
Hiroaki Takayanagi (JCP) 6.2%
Hiroshi Inoue (SDP) 5.9%
Iwate 1 Motoo Shiina "Independent Assembly" Incumbent retired
DPJ pickup
Ryo Shuhama (DPJ) 48.5%
Yosuke Takahashi (I – LDP, Ind. Ass.) 39.6%
Kunihiko Takehana (SDP) 6.7%
Akio Wakayama (JCP) 5.2%
Miyagi 2 Mitsuru Sakurai DPJ Incumbents re-elected
LDP gains top tōsen
Ichiro Ichikawa (LDP) 38.4%
Mitsuru Sakurai (DPJ) 37.8%
Ikuko Endo (JCP) 9.8%
Toshiaki Sugawara (I) 8.6%
Katsuo Okita (SDP) 5.4%
Ichiro Ichikawa LDP
Akita 1 Shigenobu Saito LDP Incumbent lost re-election
Independent pickup
Yoetsu Suzuki (I) 50.2%
Shigenobu Saito (LDP) 42.9%
Kazunobu Imagawa (JCP) 7.0%
Yamagata 1 Koichi Kishi LDP Incumbent re-elected Koichi Kishi (LDP) 46.8%
Yasue Funayama (DPJ) 36.8%
Masahiro Kimura (SDP) 7.1%
Masayuki Sato (JCP) 5.4%
Fukushima 2 Yūhei Satō DPJ Incumbents re-elected Yūhei Satō (DPJ) 45.4%
Mitsuhide Iwaki (LDP) 41.5%
Yumiko Abe (JCP) 13.1%
Mitsuhide Iwaki LDP
Eastern and Central Japan
PrefectureSeats upIncumbentsPartyResultCandidates
(Party – endorsements)
Vote share
Ibaraki 2 Akira Gunji DPJ Incumbents re-elected
LDP gains top tōsen
Hiroshi Okada (LDP) 50.5%
Akira Gunji (LDP) 41.3%
Takeo Taya (JCP) 8.2%
Hiroshi Okada LDP
Tochigi 2 Susumu Yanase DPJ Incumbents re-elected Susumu Yanase (DPJ) 49.2%
Tetsuro Yano (LDP) 42.1%
Setsuko Nomura (JCP) 8.7%
Tetsuro Yano LDP
Gunma 2 Hirofumi Nakasone LDP LDP incumbent re-elected
LDP incumbent lost re-election
DPJ pickup
DPJ gains top tōsen
Yukio Tomioka (DPJ) 34.5%
Hirofumi Nakasone (LDP) 30.3%
Kosei Ueno (LDP) 29.4%
Shinmei Ogasawara (JCP) 5.8%
Kosei Ueno LDP
Saitama 3 Masakazu Sekiguchi LDP LDP incumbent re-elected
DPJ and JCP incumbents retired
DPJ hold
Komeito pickup
DPJ gains top tōsen
Chiyako Shimada (DPJ) 28.4%
Masakazu Sekiguchi (LDP) 24.8%
Makoto Nishida (Komeito) 18.6%
Hayato Yuge (DPJ) 12.8%
Sachiyo Abe (JCP) 11.9%
Fumihiro Himori (SDP) 3.4%
Renzō Togashi JCP
Toshio Fujii DPJ
Chiba 2 Wakako Hironaka DPJ Incumbents re-elected Wakako Hironaka (DPJ) 49.1%
Kazuyasu Shiina (LDP) 39.0%
Fumiko Asano (JCP) 11.9%
Kazuyasu Shiina LDP
Tokyo 4 Toshio Ogawa DPJ Komeito, JCP and Green incumbents retired
LDP pickup
LDP gains top tōsen
Masaharu Nakagawa (LDP) 18.3%
Toshio Ogawa (DPJ) 17.9%
Renhō (DPJ) 16.7%
Yūji Sawa (Komeito) 14.9%
Yukio Aoshima (I) 10.7%
Junichiro Imamura (JCP) 8.2%
Teruaki Masumoto (I) 6.9%
Naoto Nakagawa (SDP) 3.2%
Tetsu Ueda (I) 3.0%
Hisayoshi Matsumura (Ishin) 0.2%
Mitsuo Matayoshi (WECP) 0.2%
Toshiko Hamayotsu Komeito
Miyo Inoue JCP DPJ incumbent re-elected
Komeito hold
DPJ pickup
Atsuo Nakamura "Green Conference"
Kanagawa 3 Keiichirō Asao DPJ DPJ incumbents re-elected
JCP incumbent lost re-election
LDP pickup
LDP gains top tōsen
Akio Koizumi (LDP) 33.2%
Keiichirō Asao (DPJ) 23.4%
Keiko Chiba (DPJ) 23.0%
Kimie Hatano (JCP) 10.9%
Keiko Ueda (SDP) 7.0%
Hajime Manabe (I) 1.9%
Isao Kawakubo (Ishin) 0.6%
Kimie Hatano JCP
Keiko Chiba DPJ
Niigata 2 Naoki Tanaka LDP LDP incumbent re-elected
SDP incumbent retired
SDP hold
SDP gains top tōsen
Masamichi Kondō (I – DPJ, SDP) 34.9%
Naoki Tanaka (LDP) 29.9%
Ichirō Tsukada (LDP) 26.1%
Kayoko Kuwahara (JCP) 9.1%
Kinuko Ōbuchi SDP
Toyama 1 Masaaki Tanibayashi DPJ Incumbent lost re-election
LDP pickup
Tsunenori Kawai (LDP) 46.3%
Masaaki Tanibayashi (DPJ) 37.2%
Akira Ogawa (SDP) 11.3%
Toshihiko Ueda (JCP) 5.2%
Ishikawa 1 Sōta Iwamoto "Independent Assembly" Incumbent retired
LDP pickup
Naoki Okada (LDP) 56.1%
Takashi Katō (DPJ) 36.6%
Masayuki Satō (JCP) 7.3%
Fukui 1 Masaaki Yamazaki LDP Incumbent re-elected Masaaki Yamazaki (LDP) 56.0%
Makiko Isokawa (DPJ) 37.7%
Kunihiro Uno (JCP) 6.2%
Yamanashi 1 Azuma Koshiishi DPJ Incumbent re-elected Azuma Koshiishi (DPJ) 55.1%
Kenshi Ōshiba (I) 37.1%
Hitoshi Hanada (JCP) 7.8%
Nagano 2 Toshimi Kitazawa DPJ Incumbents re-elected Toshimi Kitazawa (DPJ) 40.9%
Masatoshi Wakabayashi (LDP) 27.2%
Norihisa Yamaguchi (JCP) 11.5%
Wakako Yamaguchi (SDP) 10.4%
Roppei Hori (I) 9.9%
Masatoshi Wakabayashi LDP
Gifu 2 Iwao Matsuda LDP Incumbents re-elected Iwao Matsuda (LDP) 44.5%
Yasuo Yamashita (DPJ) 43.8%
Takao Katō (JCP) 11.7%
Yasuo Yamashita DPJ
Shizuoka 2 Tōru Ueno DPJ Incumbents lost re-election
LDP and DPJ hold
LDP gains top tōsen
Yukiko Sakamoto (LDP) 29.3%
Yūji Fujimoto (DPJ) 21.6%
Tōru Ueno (DPJ) 21.2%
Yoshihiko Yamashita (LDP) 20.1%
Yukihiro Shimazu (JCP) 7.8%
Yoshihiko Yamashita LDP
Aichi 3 Yoshitake Kimata DPJ DPJ incumbents re-elected
JCP incumbent lost re-election
LDP pickup
LDP gains top tōsen
Katsuhito Asano (LDP) 28.2%
Taisuke Satō (DPJ) 25.4%
Yoshitake Kimata (DPJ) 23.0%
Hiroko Hatta (JCP) 14.3%
Yasuo Koida (I) 6.1%
Kenji Sasaki (I) 2.4%
Yoshifumi Hayashida (Ishin) 0.7%
Taisuke Satō DPJ
Hiroko Hatta JCP
Mie 1 Jūrō Saitō LDP Incumbent retired
DPJ pickup
Hirokazu Shiba (DPJ) 52.1%
Kenji Tsuda (LDP) 41.0%
Takeshi Nakano (JCP) 6.8%
Western Japan
PrefectureSeats upIncumbentsPartyResultCandidates
(Party – endorsements)
Vote share
Shiga 1 Eisuke Kawamoto LDP Incumbent retired
DPJ pickup
Kumiko Hayashi (DPJ) 48.0%
Kenichiro Ueno (LDP) 41.5%
Toshirō Hayashi (JCP) 10.5%
Kyoto 2 Tetsurō Fukuyama DPJ DPJ incumbent re-elected
JCP incumbent lost re-election
LDP pickup
Tetsurō Fukuyama (DPJ) 43.8%
Satoshi Ninoyu (LDP) 32.4%
Tokiko Nishiyama (JCP) 23.8%
Tokiko Nishiyama JCP
Ōsaka 3 Kiyoshi Nishikawa Dainiin Club Komeito incumbent re-elected
Dainiin incumbent retired
JCP incumbent lost reelection
DPJ pickup
Motoyuki Odachi (DPJ) 24.9%
Eiichi Yamashita (Komeito) 21.8%
Issei Kitagawa (LDP) 20.1%
Kiyomi Tsujimoto (I) 19.7%
Takeshi Miyamoto (JCP) 12.1%
Yoshio Masuda (I) 1.0%
Toyokazu Ōkido (Ishin) 0.4%
Eiichi Yamashita Komeito
Takeshi Miyamoto JCP LDP pickup
DPJ gains top tōsen
Hyogo 2 Shōji Motooka DPJ DPJ incumbent retired
JCP incumbent lost re-election
DPJ hold
LDP pickup
Shunichi Mizuoka (DPJ) 38.6%
Shinsuke Suematsu (LDP) 33.5%
Tatsumi Ōsawa (JCP) 14.0%
Kazumi Hara (I) 7.3%
Ichizō Miyamoto (I) 4.7%
Kōjin Katakami (I) 1.9%
Tatsumi Ōsawa JCP
Nara 1 Minao Hattori LDP Incumbent lost re-election
DPJ pickup
Kiyoshige Maekawa (DPJ) 48.9%
Minao Hattori (LDP) 41.1%
Yoshinori Mameda (JCP) 10.0%
Wakayama 1 Yōsuke Tsuruho LDP Incumbent re-elected Yōsuke Tsuruho (LDP) 53.8%
Shika Kawajō (DPJ) 35.1%
Hideaki Kunishige (JCP) 9.9%
Yoshiya Seki (Ishin) 1.2%
Tottori 1 Kōtarō Tamura LDP Incumbent re-elected Kōtarō Tamura (LDP) 49.7%
Masahide Tsuchiya (DPJ) 37.6%
Tomoko Ichitani (JCP) 12.7%
Shimane 1 Mikio Aoki LDP Incumbent re-elected Mikio Aoki (LDP) 62.1%
Itaru Gōdo (DPJ) 30.3%
Katsuhiko Gotō (JCP) 7.5%
Okayama 1 Satsuki Eda DPJ 1 seat lost by reapportionment
DPJ incumbent re-elected
LDP incumbent lost re-election
Satsuki Eda (DPJ) 55.7%
Norifumi Katō (LDP) 39.0%
Kanji Uemoto (JCP) 5.3%
Norifumi Katō LDP
Hiroshima 2 Ikuo Kamei LDP Incumbents re-elected
DPJ gains top tōsen
Minoru Yanagida (DPJ) 42.6%
Ikuo Kamei (LDP) 41.3%
Mitsuo Okamoto (I) 9.1%
Satoshi Fujimoto (JCP) 7.1%
Minoru Yanagida DPJ
Yamaguchi 1 Masuo Matsuoka DPJ Incumbent retired
LDP pickup
Nobuo Kishi (LDP) 49.1%
Hiroko Ōizumi (DPJ) 41.9%
Sadayoshi Yoshida (JCP) 6.0%
Shigeo Hiramatsu (I) 1.8%
Seiichirō Hirata (Ishin) 1.1%
Tokushima 1 Sekiko Takahashi "Green Conference" Incumbent retired
LDP pickup
Masakatsu Koike (LDP) 47.1%
Kyōko Tōjō (DPJ) 43.3%
Takayuki Kubo (JCP) 9.6%
Kagawa 1 Toshio Yamauchi LDP Incumbent re-elected Toshio Yamauchi (LDP) 46.6%
Emiko Uematsu (DPJ) 45.0%
Michiko Chikaishi (JCP) 8.3%
Ehime 1 Takeshi Noma LDP Incumbent retired
LDP hold
Junzō Yamamoto (LDP) 49.4%
Masamitsu Saitō (DPJ) 42.0%
Masahiro Sakane (JCP) 8.6%
Kōchi 1 Hiroyuki Morishita LDP Incumbent lost re-election
Independent pickup
Hajime Hirota (I) 43.6%
Hiroyuki Morishita (LDP) 35.7%
Sachi Nakane (JCP) 14.3%
Yumiko Matsuoka (I) 6.4%
Southern Japan
PrefectureSeats upIncumbentsPartyResultCandidates
(Party – endorsements)
Vote share
Fukuoka 2 Kazuo Hirotomo Komeito Komeito incumbent retired
LDP incumbent re-elected
DPJ pickup
DPJ gains top tōsen
Tsutomu Ōkubo (DPJ) 40.6%
Gōtarō Yoshimura (LDP) 30.7%
Chū Furukawa (I) 12.5%
Toyoomi Tsuno (JCP) 8.8%
Kunihiro Etō (I) 4.7%
Yutaka Fujimoto (I) 1.8%
Tomotada Ishihara (Ishin) 0.9%
Gōtarō Yoshimura LDP
Saga 1 Hiromi Iwanaga LDP Incumbent re-elected Hiromi Iwanaga (LDP) 47.7%
Minoru Kawasaki (DPJ) 42.9%
Akemi Mutō (JCP) 9.5%
Nagasaki 1 Sōichirō Matsutani LDP Incumbent lost re-election
DPJ pickup
Tadashi Inuzuka (DPJ) 49.5%
Sōichirō Matsutani (LDP) 43.6%
Toshihiro Haraguchi (JCP) 6.8%
Kumamoto 1 Ryōichi Honda DPJ 1 seat lost by reapportionment
LDP incumbent re-elected
DPJ incumbent lost re-election
Hitoshi Kimura (LDP) 48.9%
Ryōichi Honda (DPJ) 44.3%
Nobuhiro Yamamoto (JCP) 6.8%
Hitoshi Kimura LDP
Oita 1 Toshiya Nakamichi LDP Incumbent lost re-election
DPJ pickup
Shinya Adachi (DPJ) 54.8%
Toshiya Nakamichi (LDP) 38.7%
Masaru Ono (JCP) 4.6%
Kunio Fujiki 1.9%
Miyazaki 1 Mitsuhiro Uesugi LDP Incumbent lost re-election
Independent pickup
Shinpei Matsushita (I) 48.5%
Mitsuhiro Uesugi (LDP) 45.6%
Hiromitsu Baba (JCP) 5.9%
Kagoshima 1 Hiroshi Moriyama LDP 1 seat lost by reapportionment
Incumbent retired
LDP hold
Tetsurō Nomura (LDP) 53.2%
Inao Minayoshi (DPJ) 36.9%
Katsuko Iwaizako (JCP) 9.9%
vacant
(last held by Kichio Inoue, LDP)
Okinawa 1 Sōkō Shimabuku "Independent Assembly" Incumbent retired
Independent (OSMP) pickup
Keiko Itokazu (I) 58.9%
Masatoshi Onaga (LDP) 41.1%

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2016 Japanese House of Councillors election

The 24th regular election of members of the House of Councillors was held on Sunday 10 July 2016 to elect 121 of the 242 members of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the 717-member bicameral National Diet of Japan, for a term of six years. As a result of the election, the LDP/Komeito coalition gained ten seats for a total of 146, the largest coalition achieved since the size of the house was set at 242 seats.

The Hyogo at-large district is a constituency that represents Hyogo Prefecture in the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. It currently has five Councillors in the 242-member house, but this representation will increase to six by July 2019.

The Tottori-Shimane at-large district is a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. It was formed pursuant to a 2015 revision of the Public Officers Election Law from a merger of the Tottori and Shimane at-large districts, the two smallest districts in the country, to address the imbalance in representation between rural and urban voters. The district has 1,068,348 registered voters and was contested for the first time at the House of Councillors election that was held on 10 July 2016.

2019 Japanese House of Councillors election

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.

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  2. "Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications".