2017 Japanese general election
|
|
All 465 seats in the
House of Representatives
233 seats needed for a majority
|
Turnout
| 53.68% (
1.02pp)
|
---|
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
|
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 (down from 475) of the
House of Representatives
, the
lower house
of the then
707-member
bicameral
National Diet of Japan
. Incumbent
Prime Minister
Shinz? 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
.
[1]
The snap elections were called in the midst of the
North Korea missile threat
and with the largest opposition party, the
Democratic Party
, in disarray. Just hours before Abe's announcement of the snap election on 25 September,
Governor of Tokyo
Yuriko Koike
launched a new conservative reformist party
Kib? no T?
, the Party of Hope, which was seen as a viable alternative to the ruling coalition. It soon led to the dissolution of the Democratic Party and its party members defecting to the Kib? no T?. However, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, whose members Koike refused to nominate, formed the
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
(CDP) led by
Yukio Edano
, splitting the opposition in half.
[2]
The elections turned into a three-way contest as the CDP joined with the
Japanese Communist Party
and
Social Democratic Party
on a common platform opposing the constitutional revision. While Kib? no T? fell short of expectation, the CDP surged in the polls in the last days before the elections and beat Kib? no T? to emerge as the largest opposition party.
[3]
Despite being disrupted by
Typhoon Lan
, the elections saw a slight increase in turnout rate of 53.68 percent but still was the second lowest in postwar Japan. The lowest ever turnout was recorded in
2014
.
[4]
They were also the first elections after the voting age was lowered from 20 to 18.
[5]
Abe also became the first Prime Minister to win three consecutive general elections since 1953 and the first LDP leader to do so. He became the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of the country in August 2020, but resigned shortly after achieving this due to health issues.
[6]
Background
[
edit
]
The House of Representatives has a fixed term of four years. Under the postwar
constitution
drafted in 1947, the interpretation of Article 7 states that the cabinet may instruct the
Emperor
to dissolve the House of Representatives before the end of term at will. Elections must be held within 40 days after dissolution.
[7]
In June 2015, the Public Office Election Law was amended to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 years of age.
[5]
As of June 2015, the largest opposition party
Democratic Party of Japan
was reportedly preparing a roster of up to 250 candidates so as to be prepared in the event that the next general election was to be held alongside the
House of Councillors election in the summer of 2016
, before it merged with the
Japan Innovation Party
to form the
Democratic Party
in March 2016.
[8]
The Democratic Party suffered a considerable defeat at the hands of the ruling coalition in the election, in which the Abe government took almost two-thirds of the seats.
In January 2017, Tokyo Governor
Yuriko Koike
established a new local party,
Tomin First
, to challenge the establishment Liberal Democratic Party in the
Tokyo metropolitan election
to be held in July. Tomin First won a resounding victory in the election, which came in the wake of the
Moritomo Gakuen
and Kake Gakuen scandals calling into question the propriety of the Abe government's decision making.
[9]
[10]
After the election, Defense Minister
Tomomi Inada
resigned in connection with another scandal involving the
Japan Self-Defense Forces
concealing evidence of a battle in
South Sudan
.
[10]
Meanwhile, the main national opposition Democratic Party was severely hurt by the resignation of its leader
Renho
in July, as well as several high-profile defections.
[11]
The government of Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe
began publicly discussing the possibility of an election in mid-September 2017, as the
North Korea crisis
was ongoing. Continuing the momentum of her Tokyo election victory, Koike announced the formation of a new national political party,
Kib? no T?
(Party of Hope), on 25 September. Abe called the general election just hours later on the same day.
[11]
Soon after the Party of Hope was established, Democratic Party leader
Seiji Maehara
sought to merge with Kib? no T?. Maehara's decision was strongly criticised by the liberal wing of the party, whose candidacies were rejected by Koike. The liberal wing surrounding the deputy president
Yukio Edano
announced the formation of the
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
on 2 October 2017.
[12]
Opposition politicians claim Abe called the election partly to evade further questioning in parliament over his alleged misuse of power in securing approval for a veterinary college campus in
Imabari
.
[13]
One wedge issue between the two major coalitions is the scheduled
consumption tax
hike in October 2019. The LDP coalition advocates keeping the tax hike and using the funds for child care and education, while the Kibo coalition advocates freezing the tax hike.
[14]
Nonetheless, Koike stated on 8 October that she was open to the option of a
grand coalition
with the LDP.
[15]
The LDP fielded 332 candidates, while Komeito fielded 53, Kib? no T? fielded 235, and Nippon Ishin fielded 52. The Constitutional Democratic Party,
Japanese Communist Party
and
Social Democratic Party
joined forces to support a total number of 342 candidates on the common platform of opposing the revision the pacifist
Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan
and the
new national security legislation
.
[16]
[17]
Several U.S.-Japan policy experts, including
James Zumwalt
and
Michael Green
, opined in October that the election was unlikely to have a major impact on policy as the LDP was expected to retain control; however, there was anxiety about the prospect of a leadership vacuum if Abe was eventually forced to resign as head of the LDP.
[18]
Political parties and candidates
[
edit
]
Numbers of candidates by party
[16]
Party
|
Before election
|
Const.
|
PR
|
Total
|
|
LDP
|
290
|
277
|
313
|
332
|
|
Kibo
|
57
|
198
|
234
|
235
|
|
Komei
|
34
|
9
|
44
|
53
|
|
JCP
|
21
|
206
|
65
|
243
|
|
CDP
|
15
|
63
|
77
|
78
|
|
Ishin
|
14
|
47
|
52
|
52
|
|
SDP
|
2
|
19
|
21
|
21
|
|
Kokoro
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
Others
|
0
|
44
|
47
|
91
|
|
Ind.
|
39
|
73
|
?
|
73
|
Total
|
472
|
936
|
855
|
1,180
|
Ruling coalition
[
edit
]
Koike's coalition
[
edit
]
- Kib? no T?
, also known as the Party of Hope, is the brand new conservative reformist party launched by
Yuriko Koike
, former LDP minister and incumbent
Governor of Tokyo
, on 25 September 2017 ahead of the general election. The new party attracted former members of the LDP as well as the conservative wing of the
Democratic Party
, the largest opposition party at the time, led by
Seiji Maehara
to join with the aims of overthrowing the Abe government.
[19]
Three members of the
Ichir? Ozawa
's
Liberal Party
also decided run under Koike's banner. Despite being tipped as the first Japan's woman Prime Minister, Koike has expressed no intention to run in the general election and stated that her party would not name a prime ministerial candidate during the election.
[20]
The party has promised to freeze the planned consumption tax increase and promote debate on the constitutional revision.
[21]
- Nippon Ishin no Kai
, previously known as Initiatives from Osaka, is a
Kansai
-based party led by Governor of Osaka
Ichir? Matsui
. It split from the
Japan Innovation Party
in 2015. Having similar policies with Kib? no T?, the party has agreed to cooperate with Koike in the coming election.
[22]
Pacifist coalition
[
edit
]
- The
Japanese Communist Party
(JCP), the
left-wing
party led by
Kazuo Shii
, saw its recent resurgence in the
2014 House of Representative election
due to its firm
pacifist
stance against the revision of Article 9 of the Constitution. The party currently is the second largest opposition party, holding 21 seats in the House of Representatives. The party forms an alliance with two other left-leaning parties, the Constitutional Democrats and the Social Democrats, and plans to field 243 candidates.
- The
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
(CDP), a brand new
centre-left
social liberal
party formed by
Yukio Edano
on 2 October 2017 by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, the then largest opposition party, after Kib? no T? refused to nominate the liberal candidates of the Democratic Party when the party leader Seiji Maehara decided to join Kib? no T? with the party.
[23]
The party calls for Japan to phase out
nuclear power
, opposes the constitutional revision and the
new national security legislation
with two other left-leaning opposition parties. The party plans to field 78 candidates in the coming election.
- The
Social Democratic Party
(SDP) is the centre-left
social democratic
party led by
Tadatomo Yoshida
, which currently holds 2 seats in the House of Representatives. It opposes the revision of the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution, and forms an alliance with two other left-leaning to stop the constitutional revisionists from winning a two-thirds majority.
[24]
Other parties
[
edit
]
Gender representation
[
edit
]
Fewer than 20% of the 1,180 candidates that ran in the election
were women
. 9% of current elected figures are women, Japan ranks 165th out of 193 countries on this aspect.
[25]
Opinion polls
[
edit
]
Voting intention (PR blocks)
[
edit
]
Voting intention (districts)
[
edit
]
Party approval
[
edit
]
Preferred prime minister
[
edit
]
Preferred outcome
[
edit
]
Cabinet approval / disapproval ratings
[
edit
]
Results
[
edit
]
|
---|
Party
| Proportional
| Constituency
| Total
seats
| +/?
|
---|
Votes
| %
| Seats
| Votes
| %
| Seats
|
---|
| Liberal Democratic Party
| 18,555,717
| 33.28
| 66
| 26,500,777
| 47.82
| 218
| 284
| ?7
|
| Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
| 11,084,890
| 19.88
| 37
| 4,726,326
| 8.53
| 18
| 55
| New
|
| Kib? no T?
| 9,677,524
| 17.36
| 32
| 11,437,602
| 20.64
| 18
| 50
| New
|
| Komeito
| 6,977,712
| 12.51
| 21
| 832,453
| 1.50
| 8
| 29
| ?6
|
| Japanese Communist Party
| 4,404,081
| 7.90
| 11
| 4,998,932
| 9.02
| 1
| 12
| ?9
|
| Nippon Ishin no Kai
| 3,387,097
| 6.07
| 8
| 1,765,053
| 3.18
| 3
| 11
| New
|
| Social Democratic Party
| 941,324
| 1.69
| 1
| 634,770
| 1.15
| 1
| 2
| 0
|
| Happiness Realization Party
| 292,084
| 0.52
| 0
| 159,171
| 0.29
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| New Party Daichi
| 226,552
| 0.41
| 0
| | 0
| New
|
| Shiji Seit? Nashi
| 125,019
| 0.22
| 0
| | 0
| 0
|
| Party for Japanese Kokoro
| 85,552
| 0.15
| 0
| | 0
| ?2
|
| Assembly for Zero Parliamentary Compensation
| | 21,892
| 0.04
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| New Party Constitution Article 9
| | 6,655
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Fair Party
| | 5,518
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Japan New Party
| | 5,291
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Assembly to Make Nagano Prefecture the Best Economy in Japan
| | 3,784
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Workers Party Aiming for Liberation of Labor
[
ja
]
| | 3,133
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Association to Innovate Metropolitan Government
| | 2,931
| 0.01
| 0
| 0
| New
|
| Katsuko Inumaru and Republican Party
| | 1,570
| 0.00
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| World Economic Community Party
| | 1,307
| 0.00
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| Independents
| | 4,315,028
| 7.79
| 22
| 22
| +14
|
Total
| 55,757,552
| 100.00
| 176
| 55,422,193
| 100.00
| 289
| 465
| ?10
|
|
Valid votes
| 55,757,552
| 97.91
| | 55,422,088
| 97.32
| | |
---|
Invalid/blank votes
| 1,187,702
| 2.09
| | 1,528,869
| 2.68
| | |
---|
Total votes
| 56,945,254
| 100.00
| | 56,950,957
| 100.00
| | |
---|
Registered voters/turnout
| 106,091,229
| 53.68
| | 106,091,229
| 53.68
| | |
---|
Source:
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
|
By prefecture
[
edit
]
By PR block
[
edit
]
Notable defeats
[
edit
]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Reactions and analysis
[
edit
]
The success of the CDP in surpassing the Kib? no T? in the number of seats and becoming the official opposition party was surprising. It presented a potential challenge for the ruling coalition to pass the constitutional amendment of Article 9, which was one of the main issues of the 2017 general election that was supported by Kib? no T? leader Koike but opposed by the pacifist coalition.
[43]
With a supermajority in both the upper and the lower house, the ruling coalition was expected to pass other legislation without much resistance.
[44]
In a post-election conference, Prime Minister Shinz? Abe was optimistic about moving forward, stating that the victory was the first time the LDP have "won three consecutive victories" under the same party leader.
[45]
The landslide victory achieved by the LDP campaign has been observed as not completely related to the popularity of Shinzo Abe, as the victory was also significantly influenced by the disconnect between the oppositions, notably the failure of Koike and the pacifist coalition to unite over many election issues.
[45]
[46]
Nevertheless, the CDP finishing second led to Kib? no T? dissolving in 2018 (with
Shigefumi Matsuzawa
reviving the party in a smaller capacity) and merging into the
Democratic Party for the People
, which subsequently largely merged into a refounded CDP, with the exception of a splinter group led by
Yuichiro Tamaki
. Koike became an independent, lightly cooperating with the LDP and her own regional party,
Tomin First no Kai
.
[47]
Investiture vote
[
edit
]
A special Diet session was convened on 1 November to elect the next prime minister.
[48]
Abe was re-elected with 312 and 151 votes in the
House of Representatives
and
House of Councillors
respectively.
[41]
[42]
The
new cabinet
was formed later on the day.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
as
Democratic Party of Japan
- ^
as
Japan Innovation Party
- ^
This poll is not specific to the PR blocks, but is rather a general voting-intention poll. "At the next elections, what is the party that you would like to vote for, or to which your preferred candidate belongs?"
- ^
This response was phrased as "The government loses its majority", which would include both those wishing for a change in government, as well as those wishing for the coalition to negotiate with other parties
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[
edit
]
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