Japanese general election, 2014

For detailed results by constituency, see Results of the Japanese general election, 2014.

Japanese general election, 2014

←  2012 14 December 2014 2017  →
←  outgoing members members elected  →
All 475 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 238 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	52.66% (6.66%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Shinzō Abe Banri Kaieda Kenji Eda Party Liberal Democratic Democratic Innovation Leader since 26 September 2012 25 December 2012 21 September 2014 Leader's seat Yamaguchi-4th Tokyo-1st (lost) Tokyo PR (lost) Kanagawa-8th Last election 294 seats, 27.62% 57 seats, 15.49% New party Seats won 291 73 41 Seat change 3 11 1 Popular vote 17,658,916 9,775,991 8,382,699 Percentage 33.11% 18.33% 15.72% Swing 5.49% 2.84% N/A   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Natsuo Yamaguchi Kazuo Shii Takeo Hiranuma Party Komeito Communist Future Generations Leader since 8 September 2009 24 November 2000 1 August 2014 Leader's seat Not contesting (Councillor) Minami-Kantō PR Okayama-3rd Last election 31 seats, 11.83% 8 seats, 6.13% New party Seats won 35 21 2 Seat change 4 13 18 Popular vote 7,314,236 6,062,962 1,414,919 Percentage 13.71% 11.37% 2.65% Swing 1.88% 5.24% N/A   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Tadatomo Yoshida Ichirō Ozawa Party Social Democratic People's Life Leader since 14 October 2013 25 January 2013 Leader's seat Not contesting (Councillor) Iwate-4th Last election 2 seats, 2.36% New party Seats won 2 2 Seat change 0 3 Popular vote 1,314,441 1,028,721 Percentage 2.46% 1.93% Swing 0.10% N/A
Single-member district and PR block seats won by respective parties
Prime Minister before election Shinzō Abe Liberal Democratic Elected Prime Minister Shinzō Abe Liberal Democratic

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The 47th general election of members of the House of Representatives(第47回衆議院議員総選挙,dai-yonjūnanakai Shūgiin giin sōsenkyo) of Japan was held on 14 December 2014. Voting took place in all Representatives constituencies of Japan including proportional blocks, in order to appoint Members of Diet to seats in 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 (Constitution, Article 70), the lower house election also led to a new designation election of the prime minister in the Diet (Shinzō Abe was reappointed), and the appointment of a new cabinet (with some ministers re-appointed). The turnout in this election is the lowest in Japanese history.

Background

In 2012, the Democratic Party government under Yoshihiko Noda decided to implement a raise of the Japanese consumption tax. Following this move, the Liberal Democratic Party under Shinzo Abe regained control of the Japanese government in the December 2012 general election. Abe proceeded to implement a series of economic programs known as "Abenomics" in a bid to stimulate the economy. Despite these programs, Japan entered a technical recession in mid-2014, which Abe blamed on the consumption tax hike, even though many members of the LDP supported the hike. Abe called a snap election on November 18, in part for the purpose of winning LDP backing to postpone the hike and pursue the Abenomics package. ^{[1] [2]}

The LDP government was widely expected to win the election in a landslide, and many observers viewed the snap election as a mechanism for Abe to entrench his government at a time of relative popularity. ^[3]

Results

The LDP lost a small number of seats but slightly enlarged its majority coalition with Komeito. Turnout was a record low, and many voters viewed the election as a waste of time and money. DPJ president Banri Kaieda lost his seat in Tokyo while the Japanese Communist Party doubled in strength. ^{[4] [5]} The right-leaning Japan Innovation Party and Party for Future Generations lost seats. ^[6]

e  •  d  Summary of the 14 December 2014 Japanese House of Representatives election results ^{[7] [8]}

Political Party				Local Constituency Vote			PR Block Vote			Total Seats		+/−
				Votes [9]	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total	%	Before	Last
	Government coalition			26,226,838	49.54%	232	24,973,152	46.82%	94	326	68.63%	0	+1
		Liberal Democratic Party	LDP	25,461,448	48.1%	223	17,658,916	33.11%	68	291	61.26%	-4	-3
		Komeito	NKP	765,390	1.45%	9	7,314,236	13.71%	26	35	7.37%	+4	+4
	Democratic Party		DPJ	11,916,849	22.51%	38	9,775,991	18.33%	35	73	15.37%	+10	+16
	Innovation Party		JIP	4,319,645	8.16%	11	8,382,699	15.72%	30	41	8.63%	-1	New
	Japan Communist Party		JCP	7,040,130	13.3%	1	6,062,962	11.37%	20	21	4.42%	+13	+13
	Party for Future Generations		PFG	947,395	1.79%	2	1,414,919	2.65%	0	2	0.42%	-17	New
	Social Democratic Party		SDP	419,347	0.79%	1	1,314,441	2.46%	1	2	0.42%	0	0
	People's Life Party		PLP	514,575	0.97%	2	1,028,721	1.93%	0	2	0.42%	-3	New
	New Renaissance Party		NRP	-	-	-	16,597	0.03%	0	0	0.00%	0	0
	Others			43,546	0.08%	0	364,965	0.69%	0	0	0.00%	0	0
	Independents			1,511,242	2.85%	8	–	–	–	8	1.68%	-7	+3
Total				52,939,789	100.00%	295	53,334,447	100.00%	180	475	100%	-5 [10]	-

Single-member plurality vote in 295 districts LDP (contesting 283)   48.10% DPJ (contesting 187)   22.51% JCP (contesting 292)   13.30% JIP (contesting 77)   8.16% PFG (contesting 39)   1.79% NKP (contesting 9)   1.45% PLP (contesting 13)   0.97% SDP (contesting 18)   0.79% 45 independents   2.85% 5 others   0.08%

295 single-member plurality seats LDP   75.59% DPJ   12.88% JIP   3.73% NKP   3.05% PFG   0.68% PLP   0.68% JCP   0.34% SDP   0.34% Independents   2.71%

Proportional vote in 11 multi-member districts/"blocks" LDP (contesting 11)   33.11% DPJ (contesting 11)   18.33% JIP (contesting 11)   15.72% NKP (contesting 11)   13.71% JCP (contesting 11)   11.37% PFG (contesting 11)   2.65% SDP (contesting 11)   2.46% PLP (contesting 8)   1.93% HRP (contesting 11)   0.49% Others (contesting 1)   0.20% NRP (contesting 1)   0.03%

180 proportional seats LDP   37.78% DPJ   19.44% JIP   16.67% NKP   14.44% JCP   11.11% SDP   0.56%

Total 475 lower house seats LDP   61.26% DPJ   15.37% JIP   8.63% NKP   7.37% JCP   4.42% PFG   0.42% SDP   0.42% PLP   0.42% Independents   1.68%

Composition of the House of Representatives after the election.

Notable losses

The most high-profile LDP candidate to lose re-election is Agriculture Minister Koya Nishikawa, who lost by 199 votes (0.2%) to former Governor of Tochigi Akio Fukuda. ^[11] He was questioned in October after allegedly receiving financial support from a fraudulent company. ^[12]

Amongst the DPJ members to lose their seats were party leader Banri Kaieda. ^[13] Party for Future Generations leader Shintaro Ishihara was also unsuccessful in his attempt to win a seat after receiving a low position on his party's representative ballot. ^[13]

Former leader of the now-dissolved Your Party and six-term representative for Tochigi-3rd district, Yoshimi Watanabe was also defeated. ^[14]

The JCP gained its first single-seat constituency seat since the 1996 election. Amidst a growing anti-base movement in Okinawa, JCP candidate Seiken Akamine unseated LDP incumbent Kōnosuke Kokuba in a night marked with a nationwide JCP surge. ^[15]

Other elections

Generally, the retention referendum (formally kokumin shinsa, "popular review") to confirm judges of the Supreme Court who have been recently appointed or not confirmed for 10 years is held together with a lower house election.

Subnational elections scheduled for December 14 include the prefectural assembly election in Ibaraki. ^[16] Another prefectural election in December 2014 is the gubernatorial election in Miyazaki, scheduled for December 21. ^[17]

Boundary changes

Under 2013 changes to the electoral law designed to reduce malapportionment, district boundaries in 17 prefectures have been redrawn and five districts are eliminated without replacement (one each in Fukui, Yamanashi, Tokushima, Kōchi and Saga). The number of first-past-the-post seats is reduced to 295, the total number of seats decreases to 475. ^[18]

Constitutionality

In November 2015, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the inequality in vote weight due to malapportionment was still in an unconstitutional state (iken jōtai); however, as in previous such rulings, it dismissed the demand to invalidate the election. ^{[19] [20]}

Polling

Parties' approval ratings from 2013–14

(Source: NHK)

Date																	Lead
	LDP	DPJ	JRP	PFG	NKP	YP	PLP	JCP	SDP	GW	NRP	UP	JIP	Other	No Party	Undecided
5–7 December	38.1%	11.7%		0.1%	5.9%		0.3%	4.3%	0.9%		0.0%		3.7%	0.1%	26.3%	8.5%	11.8%
7–9 November	36.6%	7.9%		0.2%	2.2%	0.0%	0.0%	3.5%	0.6%				1.2%	0.1%	40.0%	7.7%	3.4%
11–13 October	40.2%	5.6%		0.1%	4.1%	0.5%	0.1%	3.3%	0.9%				1.4%	0.1%	35.0%	8.8%	5.2%
5–7 September	40.4%	5.4%	0.7%	0.1%	4.3%	0.0%	0.2%	3.3%	0.5%			0.1%		0.4%	36.9%	7.8%	3.5%
8–10 August	36.7%	6.4%	1.0%	0.3%	3.0%	0.2%	0.3%	3.2%	0.7%			0.0%		0.0%	39.4%	8.8%	2.7%
11–13 July	34.3%	4.8%	1.7%		3.6%	0.5%	0.3%	3.4%	0.9%			0.1%		0.3%	42.5%	7.6%	8.2%
6–8 June	36.9%	5.1%	1.1%		4.0%	0.4%	0.1%	2.8%	0.6%			0.0%		0.1%	42.4%	6.7%	5.5%
9–11 May	41.4%	5.6%	1.1%		3.7%	0.2%	0.3%	2.4%	0.9%			0.2%		0.1%	37.2%	6.9%	4.2%
11–13 April	38.1%	7.4%	1.3%		3.4%	0.9%	0.2%	3.6%	0.6%			0.1%		0.2%	37.2%	5.2%	0.9%
7–9 March	38.7%	6.5%	1.1%		2.2%	0.8%	0.1%	3.3%	0.8%			0.4%		0.1%	40.0%	5.2%	1.3%
7–9 February	36.2%	5.8%	1.3%		3.9%	1.1%	0.3%	3.3%	1.4%			0.5%		0.2%	41.0%	5.2%	4.8%
11–13 January	40.4%	5.8%	1.6%		2.8%	0.8%	0.1%	1.6%	0.7%			0.1%		0.3%	40.3%	5.5%	0.1%
2014
6–8 December	36.7%	7.8%	2.1%		2.8%	1.2%	0.2%	3.1%	0.6%					0.0%	38.7%	6.8%	2.0%
8–10 November	41.9%	5.2%	1.8%		4.4%	1.9%	0.3%	3.3%	0.4%					0.3%	35.1%	5.6%	6.8%
12–14 October	36.1%	5.2%	2.1%		3.8%	1.2%	0.2%	4.0%	0.5%					0.3%	41.8%	4.9%	5.7%
6–8 September	40.3%	5.5%	2.2%		4.4%	2.1%	0.0%	3.2%	0.7%					0.2%	34.6%	6.8%	5.7%
9–11 August	37.9%	7.3%	4.6%		4.6%	3.2%	0.2%	3.5%	0.8%					0.9%	30.8%	6.2%	7.1%
5–7 July	42.5%	8.0%	2.7%		5.3%	3.1%	0.5%	3.7%	0.9%	0.1%	0.0%			0.3%	24.5%	8.4%	18.0%
7–9 June	41.7%	5.8%	1.5%		5.1%	1.5%	0.1%	2.2%	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%			0.2%	34.6%	7.0%	7.1%
10–12 May	43.4%	5.3%	2.4%		3.7%	2.3%	0.3%	2.0%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%			0.1%	33.3%	6.1%	10.1%
5–7 April	43.6%	6.1%	2.1%		3.7%	1.3%	0.4%	2.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.0%			0.1%	34.5%	5.6%	9.1%
8–10 March	40.1%	7.0%	3.9%		4.4%	3.1%	0.3%	2.1%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%			0.1%	31.8%	6.6%	8.3%
10–12 February	40.4%	7.0%	5.3%		3.1%	2.6%	0.3%	2.1%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%			0.3%	31.7%	6.3%	8.7%
12–14 January	37.8%	7.6%	6.5%		4.0%	3.7%	0.5%	2.7%	0.8%	0.0%	0.0%			0.3%	30.8%	5.4%	7.0%
2013

Cabinet approval/disapproval ratings

Approval (blue) and Disapproval (red) Ratings for Second and Third Abe Cabinet

Date	PM
		Approval	Disapproval
5–7 December	Shinzo Abe	47%	38%
7–9 November	Shinzo Abe	44%	38%
11–13 October	Shinzo Abe	52%	34%
5–7 September	Shinzo Abe	58%	28%
8–10 August	Shinzo Abe	51%	33%
11–13 July	Shinzo Abe	47%	38%
6–8 June	Shinzo Abe	52%	32%
9–11 May	Shinzo Abe	56%	29%
11–13 April	Shinzo Abe	52%	31%
7–9 March	Shinzo Abe	51%	30%
7–9 February	Shinzo Abe	52%	33%
11–13 January	Shinzo Abe	54%	31%
2014
21–22 December [21]	Shinzo Abe	49%	34%
6–8 December	Shinzo Abe	50%	35%
8–10 November	Shinzo Abe	60%	25%
12–14 October	Shinzo Abe	58%	26%
6–8 September	Shinzo Abe	59%	23%
9–11 August	Shinzo Abe	57%	29%
5–7 July	Shinzo Abe	57%	25%
7–9 June	Shinzo Abe	62%	20%
10–12 May	Shinzo Abe	65%	18%
5–7 April	Shinzo Abe	66%	19%
23–24 March [22]	Shinzo Abe	69%	6%
9–10 March [23]	Shinzo Abe	76%	22%
8–10 March	Shinzo Abe	66%	18%
10–12 February	Shinzo Abe	64%	20%
8–10 February [24]	Shinzo Abe	71%	18%
12–14 January	Shinzo Abe	64%	22%
11–13 January [24]	Shinzo Abe	68%	24%
2013

References

1. Wakatabe, Masazumi. "Election With A Cause: Why Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Must Call General Election Now" . Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
2. McCurry, Justin (2014-11-18). "Japan calls snap election". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
3. Boyd, John. "Japan's unwanted election: Why now?". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
4. "Abe coalition secures big Japan election win with record low turnout". Reuters. 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
5. "Japan election: Voters back Shinzo Abe as PM wins new term - BBC News" . Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
6. "Romping home". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2016-07-14. 
7. "Ruling coalition wins over 2/3 of seats in lower house election". mainichi.jp. The Mainichi Newspaper (Mainichi Shimbun). Retrieved 14 December 2014. 
8. "Japan Election / New balance of power in House of Representatives". the-japan-news.com. The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun). Retrieved 14 December 2014. 
9. Decimals from fractional votes (按分票 ambunhyo) rounded to full numbers
10. The number of seats reduced from 480 to 475 compared with the last election.
11. NHK(Japan Broadcasting Corporation). "NHK2014衆院選". NHK2014衆院選. 
12. Sukyandaru
13. "Abe tightens grip on power as ruling coalition wins 325 seats in Lower House election". The Japan Times. 
14. "Ex-Your Party leader Watanabe, ex-Tokyo Gov. Ishihara to lose seats". mainichi.jp. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. 
15. Aoki, Mizuho (15 December 2014). "Resurgent JCP has night to remember". Japan Times . Retrieved 11 December 2017. 
16. Ibaraki prefectural election commission: 2014 general election (on the prefectural and municipal levels: ippan-senkyo, 一般選挙, not sō-senkyo as in elections to the national House of Representatives) of members of the prefectural assembly Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine . (in Japanese)
17. Miyazaki prefectural election commission: Schedule for the Miyazaki gubernatorial election (in Japanese)
18. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 衆議院小選挙区の区割りの改定等について
19. Nihon Keizai Shimbun, November 25, 2015: 14年衆院選、１票の格差は「違憲状態」　最高裁大法廷
20. The Japan Times, November 25, 2015: Supreme Court says December election ‘in state of unconstitutionality,’ but won’t nullify results
21. "Approval rating for Abe Cabinet falls below 50% for 1st time since inauguration: Mainichi poll (in English)". Mainichi Shimbun. 24 December 2013. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014. 
22. "【産経・ＦＮＮ合同世論調査】安倍内閣支持６９・６％に上昇　鳩山内閣発足時を超える". MSN産経ニュース. 
23. TBS/JNN
24. 内閣支持率７１％、２回連続上昇...読売世論調査

External links

Media related to Japanese general election, 2014 at Wikimedia Commons