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2000 Japanese general election

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2000 Japanese general election

← 1996 25 June 2000 2003 →

All 480 seats in the House of Representatives
241 seats needed for a majority
Turnout62.49% (Increase2.84pp; Const. votes)
62.44% (Increase2.82pp; PR votes)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Yoshirō Mori Yukio Hatoyama Takenori Kanzaki
Party Liberal Democratic Democratic Komeito
Last election 239 seats Did not exist Did not exist
Seats won 233 127 31
Seat change Decrease 6 New New
Constituency vote 24,945,807 16,811,732 1,231,753
% and swing 40.97% (Increase2.34pp) 27.61% (New) 2.02% (New)
Regional vote 16,943,425 15,067,990 7,762,032
% and swing 28.31% (Decrease4.45pp) 25.18% (New) 12.97% (New)

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ichirō Ozawa Tetsuzo Fuwa Takako Doi
Party Liberal Communist Social Democratic
Last election Did not exist 26 seats 15 seats
Seats won 22 20 19
Seat change New Decrease 6 Increase 4
Constituency vote 2,053,736 7,352,844 2,315,235
% and swing 3.37% (New) 12.08% (Decrease0.47pp) 3.80% (Decrease0.39pp)
Regional vote 6,589,490 6,719,016 5,603,680
% and swing 11.01% (New) 11.23% (Decrease1.85pp) 9.36% (Decrease3.02pp)

Districts and PR districts, shaded according to winners' vote strength

Prime Minister before election

Yoshirō Mori
Liberal Democratic

Elected Prime Minister

Yoshirō Mori
Liberal Democratic

General elections were held in Japan on 25 June 2000 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) maintained a majority in the House of Representatives, but its total percentage of seats shrank from 65% to 56%, and its two coalition partners also lost several seats. Two cabinet members, Takashi Fukaya and Tokuichiro Tamazawa, lost their seats. The Democratic Party made major gains under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama.[1]

Background

[edit]

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke in April 2000 and was replaced by Yoshiro Mori. Although the term limit for the House of Representatives would have been reached in October 2000, Mori dissolved the House on June 2 in what became popularly known as the Divine Nation Dissolution (神の国解散) due to a controversial statement by Mori prior to the election, which preceded a slump in government approval ratings from 40% to 20%. The LDP government advocated continued public works spending while the opposition advocated less spending and more governmental reforms.[2]

The Social Democratic Party left the coalition in 1998 and re-join the opposition after years of coalition with the ideologically contrasting LDP.

Meanwhile, the Komeito Party, a centrist party with roots from the Soka Gakkai based on the Nichiren Buddhist movement and despite almost decades of opposition against the LDP, shifted from centre towards conservatism. An electoral alliance between the once rivals of the Komeito and the LDP has been in effect since the Japanese General election in 2000. For the LDP, despite not being able to win an absolute majority of votes by itself in further elections (especially for the House of Councillors which the LDP lost majority since 1989), the Komeito party has been counted on since then to ensure a stable governing majority rule.

Results

[edit]
Constituency cartogram

The House of Representatives consisted of 480 members, 300 elected from single-member constituencies and 180 elected on a proportional basis from eleven multi-member constituencies known as Block constituencies.

PartyProportionalConstituencyTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Liberal Democratic Party16,943,42528.315624,945,80740.97177233–6
Democratic Party of Japan15,067,99025.184716,811,73227.6180127New
New Komeito Party7,762,03212.97241,231,7532.02731New
Japanese Communist Party6,719,01611.23207,352,84412.08020–6
Liberal Party6,589,49011.01182,053,7363.37422New
Social Democratic Party 5,603,6809.36152,315,2353.80419+4
Liberal League660,7241.1001,071,0121.7611New
New Conservative Party247,3340.4101,230,4642.0277New
Assembly of Independents151,3450.250652,1381.0755New
Other parties99,5650.170250,6810.4100
Independents2,967,0694.871515+6
Total59,844,601100.0018060,882,471100.00300480–20
Valid votes59,844,60195.3760,882,47197.01
Invalid/blank votes2,904,9834.631,877,3182.99
Total votes62,749,584100.0062,759,789100.00
Registered voters/turnout100,492,32862.44100,433,79862.49
Source: Election Resources, IPU

By prefecture

[edit]
Prefecture Total
seats
Seats won
LDP DPJ NKP NCP AI SDP LP LL Ind.
Aichi 15 5 9 1
Akita 3 3
Aomori 4 3 1
Chiba 12 7 5
Ehime 4 4
Fukui 3 3
Fukuoka 11 8 2 1
Fukushima 5 3 1 1
Gifu 5 5
Gunma 5 5
Hiroshima 7 5 1 1
Hokkaido 13 7 6
Hyōgo 12 3 3 2 2 1 1
Ibaraki 7 5 1 1
Ishikawa 3 3
Iwate 4 1 3
Kagawa 3 2 1
Kagoshima 5 4 1
Kanagawa 17 9 6 1 1
Kōchi 3 3
Kumamoto 5 2 1 1 1
Kyoto 6 5 1
Mie 5 2 2 1
Miyagi 6 2 4
Miyazaki 3 3
Nagano 5 3 2
Nagasaki 4 2 1 1
Nara 4 4
Niigata 6 4 1 1
Ōita 4 2 1 1
Okayama 5 5
Okinawa 3 1 1 1
Osaka 19 8 5 4 1 1
Saga 3 3
Saitama 14 6 6 1 1
Shiga 3 2 1
Shimane 3 3
Shizuoka 9 4 4 1
Tochigi 5 4 1
Tokushima 3 2 1
Tokyo 25 8 13 1 3
Tottori 2 2
Toyama 3 3
Wakayama 3 1 1 1
Yamagata 4 3 1
Yamaguchi 4 3 1
Yamanashi 3 2 1
Total 300 177 80 7 7 5 4 4 1 15

By PR block

[edit]
PR block Total
seats
Seats won
LDP DPJ NKP JCP LP SDP
Chūgoku 11 4 2 2 1 1 1
Hokkaido 8 2 3 1 1 1
Hokuriku–Shinetsu 11 4 3 1 1 1 1
Kinki 30 7 7 5 5 3 3
Kyushu 21 7 4 3 2 2 3
Northern Kanto 20 7 5 3 2 2 1
Shikoku 6 3 1 1 1
Southern Kanto 21 6 6 3 2 2 2
Tohoku 14 5 3 1 1 3 1
Tokai 21 7 7 2 2 2 1
Tokyo 17 4 6 2 2 2 1
Total 180 56 47 24 20 18 15

Analysis

[edit]

The further entrenchment of the 1955 System continued, with the Democratic Party of Japan replacing the New Frontier Party as the primary opposition to the LDP. The Social Democratic Party saw a brief resurgence following its near destruction in 1996, but the decline of the party would continue in the following election. The election set the groundwork for the system of politics that would lay how Japanese elections work until the collapse of the Democratic Party of Japan in the mid-2010s.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ French, Howard (26 June 2000). "GOVERNING PARTY IN JAPAN SUFFERS ELECTION SETBACK". New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  2. ^ "JAPAN Parliamentary Chamber: Shugiin ELECTIONS HELD IN 2000". IPU.org. Retrieved 27 January 2014.