Elections in Japan
Encyclopedia
The Japanese political system has three types of elections: general elections to the House of Representatives
held every four years (unless the lower house is dissolved earlier), 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 is twenty years; voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot. For those seeking office, there are two sets of age requirements: twenty-five years of age for admission to the House of Representatives and most local offices, and thirty years of age for admission to the House of Councillors and the prefectural governorship. Each deposit for candidacy is 3 million yen (30 thousand dollars) for single-seat constituency and 6 million yen (60 thousand dollars) for proportional representation.
(Kokkai) has two chambers
. The House of Representatives
(Shugi-in) has 480 members, elected for a four year term, 300 members in single-seat constituencies and 180 members by proportional representation
in 11 block districts. In this system, each voter votes twice, once for a candidate in the local constituency, and once for a party, each of which has a list of candidates for each block district. The local constituencies are decided by plurality, and the block seats are then handed out to the parties proportionally (by the D'Hondt method
) to their share of the vote, who then appoint members from their lists. Often the parties assign the block seats to unsuccessful single-seat candidates.
The House of Councillors (Sangi-in) has 242 members, elected for a six year term, 146 members in multi-seat constituencies (prefectures) and 96 by proportional representation
on the national level. Half of the House of Councillors comes up for election every three years.
For many years Japan was a one party dominant state until 1993 with the Liberal Democratic Party as the ruling party. They lost office and then soon regained power. The 2009 elections handed the first non-LDP victory to the Democratic Party of Japan
. Due to the majoritarian parallel voting
system it is unlikely that Japan will develop a multi-party system
, but there is speculation that after 2009, Japan will develop a two-party system
.
According to a survey by Yomiuri Shimbun
in April 2010, almost half of Japanese voters do not support any political parties due to political inefficiency.
, when only one-third of the people lived in urban areas and two thirds lived in rural areas. In the next forty-five years, the population became more than three-quarters urban, as people deserted rural communities to seek economic opportunities in Tokyo
and other large cities. The lack of reapportionment led to a serious underrepresentation of urban voters. Urban districts in the House of Representatives were increased by five in 1964, bringing nineteen new representatives to the lower house; in 1975 six more urban districts were established, with a total of twenty new representatives allocated to them and to other urban districts. Yet great inequities remained between urban and rural voters.
In the early 1980s, as many as five times the votes were needed to elect a representative from an urban district compared with those needed for a rural district. Similar disparities existed in the prefectural constituencies of the House of Councillors. The Supreme Court
had ruled on several occasions that the imbalance violated the constitutional principle of one person-one vote. The Supreme Court mandated the addition of eight representatives to urban districts and the removal of seven from rural districts in 1986. Several lower house districts' boundaries were redrawn. Yet the disparity was still as much as three urban votes to one rural vote.
After the 1986 change, the average number of persons per lower house representative was 236,424. However, the figure varied from 427,761 persons per representative in the fourth district of Kanagawa Prefecture
, which contains the large city of Yokohama, to 142,932 persons in the third district of largely rural and mountainous Nagano Prefecture
.
The 1993 reform government under Hosokawa Morihiro introduce a new electoral system whereby 200 members (reduced to 180 beginning with the 2000 election) are elected by proportional representation in multi-member districts or "blocs" while 300 are elected from single-candidate districts.
Still, according to the October 6, 2006 issue of the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, "the Supreme Court followed legal precedent in ruling Wednesday that the House of Councillors election in 2004 was held in a constitutionally sound way despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of votes between the nation's most densely and most sparsely populated electoral districts".
The 2009 general election was the first unconstitutional lower house election under the current electoral system introduced in 1994 (parallel voting and "small" FPTP single-member electoral districts/"Kakumander"). In March 2011, the Grand Bench (daihōtei) of the Supreme Court ruled that the maximum discrepancy of 2.30 in voting weight between the Kōchi 3 and Chiba 4
constituencies in the 2009 election was in violation of the constitutionally guaranteed equality of all voters. As in previous such rulings on unconstitutional elections (1972, 1980, 1983 and 1990 Representatives elections, 1992 Councillors election), the election is not invalidated, but the imbalance has to be corrected by the Diet through redistricting and/or reapportionment of seats between prefectures.
The following table is based on the 2009 Elections, using the 103,949,442 Registered Electors, the voter turn out at prefecture level and the detailed district votes. It involves a maximum to minimum ratio of 2.92, above from the aforementioned court ruling due to the variability of participation within prefectures between districts.
multi-member districts, several candidates can be elected, but every voter has only one vote). But in the proportional vote for the House of Councillors votes are cast for a party list (to determine how many proportional seats a party receives) or a candidate (which additionally influences which candidates are elected from a party's list).
Ballots that cannot unambiguously be assigned to a candidate are not considered invalid, but are proportionally assigned to all potentially intended candidates. These so-called "proportional fractional votes" (按分票, ambunhyō) are rounded to the third decimal.
In 2002, passage of an electronic voting law allowed for the introduction of electronic voting machine
s in local elections. The first machine vote took place in Niimi, Okayama
in June 2002. In 2003, a system for early voting
(期日前投票制度, kijitsu-mae tōhyō seido) was introduced. In the Japanese general election, 2009
a record number of more than 10 million Japanese voted early.
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
held every four years (unless the lower house is dissolved earlier), elections to the House of Councillors
House of Councillors
The is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives...
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
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
, an attached organization
Attached organization
In Japan, an is an organization in the Japanese government that is attached to the Cabinet Office, ministries or their Government agency and is established for some special purposes. It is distinguished from an affiliated institution. The classification was created when the amendments to the...
to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
The ' or Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. The English name Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications was used prior to 2004...
(MIC). The minimum voting age is twenty years; voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot. For those seeking office, there are two sets of age requirements: twenty-five years of age for admission to the House of Representatives and most local offices, and thirty years of age for admission to the House of Councillors and the prefectural governorship. Each deposit for candidacy is 3 million yen (30 thousand dollars) for single-seat constituency and 6 million yen (60 thousand dollars) for proportional representation.
National elections
The DietDiet of Japan
The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
(Kokkai) has two chambers
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
. The House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
(Shugi-in) has 480 members, elected for a four year term, 300 members in single-seat constituencies and 180 members by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
in 11 block districts. In this system, each voter votes twice, once for a candidate in the local constituency, and once for a party, each of which has a list of candidates for each block district. The local constituencies are decided by plurality, and the block seats are then handed out to the parties proportionally (by the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
) to their share of the vote, who then appoint members from their lists. Often the parties assign the block seats to unsuccessful single-seat candidates.
The House of Councillors (Sangi-in) has 242 members, elected for a six year term, 146 members in multi-seat constituencies (prefectures) and 96 by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
on the national level. Half of the House of Councillors comes up for election every three years.
For many years Japan was a one party dominant state until 1993 with the Liberal Democratic Party as the ruling party. They lost office and then soon regained power. The 2009 elections handed the first non-LDP victory to the Democratic Party of Japan
Democratic Party of Japan
The is a political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several opposition parties. Its socially liberal platform is generally considered center-left in the Japanese political spectrum...
. Due to the majoritarian parallel voting
Parallel voting
Parallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
system it is unlikely that Japan will develop a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
, but there is speculation that after 2009, Japan will develop a two-party system
Two-party system
A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...
.
According to a survey by Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...
in April 2010, almost half of Japanese voters do not support any political parties due to political inefficiency.
2010 House of Councillors election
2009 General election
2007 House of Councillors election
Malapportionment
In the 1980s, apportionment of electoral districts still reflected the distribution of the population in the years following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when only one-third of the people lived in urban areas and two thirds lived in rural areas. In the next forty-five years, the population became more than three-quarters urban, as people deserted rural communities to seek economic opportunities in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and other large cities. The lack of reapportionment led to a serious underrepresentation of urban voters. Urban districts in the House of Representatives were increased by five in 1964, bringing nineteen new representatives to the lower house; in 1975 six more urban districts were established, with a total of twenty new representatives allocated to them and to other urban districts. Yet great inequities remained between urban and rural voters.
In the early 1980s, as many as five times the votes were needed to elect a representative from an urban district compared with those needed for a rural district. Similar disparities existed in the prefectural constituencies of the House of Councillors. The Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Japan
The Supreme Court of Japan , located in Chiyoda, Tokyo is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law...
had ruled on several occasions that the imbalance violated the constitutional principle of one person-one vote. The Supreme Court mandated the addition of eight representatives to urban districts and the removal of seven from rural districts in 1986. Several lower house districts' boundaries were redrawn. Yet the disparity was still as much as three urban votes to one rural vote.
After the 1986 change, the average number of persons per lower house representative was 236,424. However, the figure varied from 427,761 persons per representative in the fourth district of Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, which contains the large city of Yokohama, to 142,932 persons in the third district of largely rural and mountainous Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
.
The 1993 reform government under Hosokawa Morihiro introduce a new electoral system whereby 200 members (reduced to 180 beginning with the 2000 election) are elected by proportional representation in multi-member districts or "blocs" while 300 are elected from single-candidate districts.
Still, according to the October 6, 2006 issue of the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, "the Supreme Court followed legal precedent in ruling Wednesday that the House of Councillors election in 2004 was held in a constitutionally sound way despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of votes between the nation's most densely and most sparsely populated electoral districts".
The 2009 general election was the first unconstitutional lower house election under the current electoral system introduced in 1994 (parallel voting and "small" FPTP single-member electoral districts/"Kakumander"). In March 2011, the Grand Bench (daihōtei) of the Supreme Court ruled that the maximum discrepancy of 2.30 in voting weight between the Kōchi 3 and Chiba 4
Chiba 4th district
Chiba 4th district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan . It is located in Western Chiba and covers the city of Funabashi...
constituencies in the 2009 election was in violation of the constitutionally guaranteed equality of all voters. As in previous such rulings on unconstitutional elections (1972, 1980, 1983 and 1990 Representatives elections, 1992 Councillors election), the election is not invalidated, but the imbalance has to be corrected by the Diet through redistricting and/or reapportionment of seats between prefectures.
The following table is based on the 2009 Elections, using the 103,949,442 Registered Electors, the voter turn out at prefecture level and the detailed district votes. It involves a maximum to minimum ratio of 2.92, above from the aforementioned court ruling due to the variability of participation within prefectures between districts.
| District | Population |
|---|---|
| AICHI 1 | 305235 |
| AICHI 2 | 330471 |
| AICHI 3 | 335494 |
| AICHI 4 | 306189 |
| AICHI 5 | 346324 |
| AICHI 6 | 386564 |
| AICHI 7 | 404129 |
| AICHI 8 | 389862 |
| AICHI 9 | 392616 |
| AICHI 10 | 385300 |
| AICHI 11 | 375862 |
| AICHI 12 | 443544 |
| AICHI 13 | 390399 |
| AICHI 14 | 261809 |
| AICHI 15 | 325967 |
| AKITA 1 | 262050 |
| AKITA 2 | 321543 |
| AKITA 3 | 397060 |
| AOMORI 1 | 310339 |
| AOMORI 2 | 218583 |
| AOMORI 3 | 248275 |
| AOMORI 4 | 291593 |
| CHIBA 1 | 373994 |
| CHIBA 2 | 400122 |
| CHIBA 3 | 300181 |
| CHIBA 4 | 449199 |
| CHIBA 5 | 381031 |
| CHIBA 6 | 325738 |
| CHIBA 7 | 380587 |
| CHIBA 8 | 385379 |
| CHIBA 9 | 372993 |
| CHIBA 10 | 340961 |
| CHIBA 11 | 349380 |
| CHIBA 12 | 375789 |
| CHIBA 13 | 307660 |
| EHIME 1 | 365854 |
| EHIME 2 | 297521 |
| EHIME 3 | 254040 |
| EHIME 4 | 252121 |
| FUKUI 1 | 210985 |
| FUKUI 2 | 214862 |
| FUKUI 3 | 212203 |
| FUKUOKA 1 | 321275 |
| FUKUOKA 2 | 384014 |
| FUKUOKA 3 | 370385 |
| FUKUOKA 4 | 317391 |
| FUKUOKA 5 | 383802 |
| FUKUOKA 6 | 360216 |
| FUKUOKA 7 | 319870 |
| FUKUOKA 8 | 365040 |
| FUKUOKA 9 | 354147 |
| FUKUOKA 10 | 352423 |
| FUKUOKA 11 | 254317 |
| FUKUSHIMA 1 | 461475 |
| FUKUSHIMA 2 | 362868 |
| FUKUSHIMA 3 | 320538 |
| FUKUSHIMA 4 | 274561 |
| FUKUSHIMA 5 | 339956 |
| GIFU 1 | 332581 |
| GIFU 2 | 324068 |
| GIFU 3 | 427505 |
| GIFU 4 | 398024 |
| GIFU 5 | 314153 |
| GUNMA 1 | 369957 |
| GUNMA 2 | 301116 |
| GUNMA 3 | 292612 |
| GUNMA 4 | 289538 |
| GUNMA 5 | 311378 |
| HIROSHIMA 1 | 304219 |
| HIROSHIMA 2 | 399582 |
| HIROSHIMA 3 | 355707 |
| HIROSHIMA 4 | 307291 |
| HIROSHIMA 5 | 295780 |
| HIROSHIMA 6 | 344143 |
| HIROSHIMA 7 | 375673 |
| HOKKAIDO 1 | 519946 |
| HOKKAIDO 2 | 469661 |
| HOKKAIDO 3 | 470952 |
| HOKKAIDO 4 | 352310 |
| HOKKAIDO 5 | 523544 |
| HOKKAIDO 6 | 488877 |
| HOKKAIDO 7 | 310504 |
| HOKKAIDO 8 | 421148 |
| HOKKAIDO 9 | 467794 |
| HOKKAIDO 10 | 392718 |
| HOKKAIDO 11 | 338387 |
| HOKKAIDO 12 | 373835 |
| HYOGO 1 | 344236 |
| HYOGO 2 | 342223 |
| HYOGO 3 | 308437 |
| HYOGO 4 | 416672 |
| HYOGO 5 | 390864 |
| HYOGO 6 | 468520 |
| HYOGO 7 | 452081 |
| HYOGO 8 | 379175 |
| HYOGO 9 | 340684 |
| HYOGO 10 | 343450 |
| HYOGO 11 | 358846 |
| HYOGO 12 | 332086 |
| IBARAKI 1 | 387608 |
| IBARAKI 2 | 341514 |
| IBARAKI 3 | 376628 |
| IBARAKI 4 | 300820 |
| IBARAKI 5 | 219486 |
| IBARAKI 6 | 398464 |
| IBARAKI 7 | 309589 |
| ISHIKAWA 1 | 348168 |
| ISHIKAWA 2 | 335120 |
| ISHIKAWA 3 | 275320 |
| IWATE 1 | 261913 |
| IWATE 2 | 287570 |
| IWATE 3 | 248280 |
| IWATE 4 | 290191 |
| KAGAWA 1 | 277166 |
| KAGAWA 2 | 253863 |
| KAGAWA 3 | 223745 |
| KAGOSHIMA 1 | 297623 |
| KAGOSHIMA 2 | 276428 |
| KAGOSHIMA 3 | 256128 |
| KAGOSHIMA 4 | 261333 |
| KAGOSHIMA 5 | 241833 |
| KANAGAWA 1 | 378436 |
| KANAGAWA 2 | 382716 |
| KANAGAWA 3 | 349603 |
| KANAGAWA 4 | 315735 |
| KANAGAWA 5 | 413191 |
| KANAGAWA 6 | 343724 |
| KANAGAWA 7 | 369643 |
| KANAGAWA 8 | 352655 |
| KANAGAWA 9 | 269462 |
| KANAGAWA 10 | 417822 |
| KANAGAWA 11 | 359629 |
| KANAGAWA 12 | 324213 |
| KANAGAWA 13 | 403199 |
| KANAGAWA 14 | 383000 |
| KANAGAWA 15 | 413205 |
| KANAGAWA 16 | 383887 |
| KANAGAWA 17 | 393595 |
| KANAGAWA 18 | 303938 |
| KOCHI 1 | 178960 |
| KOCHI 2 | 186847 |
| KOCHI 3 | 199103 |
| KUMAMOTO 1 | 338261 |
| KUMAMOTO 2 | 284765 |
| KUMAMOTO 3 | 273092 |
| KUMAMOTO 4 | 286428 |
| KUMAMOTO 5 | 244871 |
| KYOTO 1 | 347333 |
| KYOTO 2 | 248377 |
| KYOTO 3 | 315260 |
| KYOTO 4 | 376253 |
| KYOTO 5 | 267133 |
| KYOTO 6 | 433227 |
| MIE 1 | 317720 |
| MIE 2 | 321336 |
| MIE 3 | 346109 |
| MIE 4 | 250611 |
| MIE 5 | 302864 |
| MIYAGI 1 | 353949 |
| MIYAGI 2 | 370934 |
| MIYAGI 3 | 272805 |
| MIYAGI 4 | 312902 |
| MIYAGI 5 | 211032 |
| MIYAGI 6 | 218662 |
| MIYAZAKI 1 | 320382 |
| MIYAZAKI 2 | 299778 |
| MIYAZAKI 3 | 276819 |
| NAGANO 1 | 462003 |
| NAGANO 2 | 416224 |
| NAGANO 3 | 427730 |
| NAGANO 4 | 276881 |
| NAGANO 5 | 335380 |
| NAGASAKI 1 | 349085 |
| NAGASAKI 2 | 358680 |
| NAGASAKI 3 | 239225 |
| NAGASAKI 4 | 291458 |
| NARA 1 | 297231 |
| NARA 2 | 312722 |
| NARA 3 | 305355 |
| NARA 4 | 287479 |
| NIIGATA 1 | 393880 |
| NIIGATA 2 | 328348 |
| NIIGATA 3 | 328267 |
| NIIGATA 4 | 322680 |
| NIIGATA 5 | 293894 |
| NIIGATA 6 | 315558 |
| OITA 1 | 335180 |
| OITA 2 | 312117 |
| OITA 3 | 330714 |
| OKAYAMA 1 | 303445 |
| OKAYAMA 2 | 257452 |
| OKAYAMA 3 | 273178 |
| OKAYAMA 4 | 312792 |
| OKAYAMA 5 | 263088 |
| OKINAWA 1 | 210911 |
| OKINAWA 2 | 212547 |
| OKINAWA 3 | 233703 |
| OKINAWA 4 | 209096 |
| OSAKA 1 | 335299 |
| OSAKA 2 | 334069 |
| OSAKA 3 | 357360 |
| OSAKA 4 | 388528 |
| OSAKA 5 | 378035 |
| OSAKA 6 | 367429 |
| OSAKA 7 | 344554 |
| OSAKA 8 | 314093 |
| OSAKA 9 | 430036 |
| OSAKA 10 | 316453 |
| OSAKA 11 | 381971 |
| OSAKA 12 | 326300 |
| OSAKA 13 | 361650 |
| OSAKA 14 | 412277 |
| OSAKA 15 | 385328 |
| OSAKA 16 | 305057 |
| OSAKA 17 | 313309 |
| OSAKA 18 | 397162 |
| OSAKA 19 | 289233 |
| SAGA 1 | 250593 |
| SAGA 2 | 241645 |
| SAGA 3 | 232224 |
| SAITAMA 1 | 374929 |
| SAITAMA 2 | 392274 |
| SAITAMA 3 | 388572 |
| SAITAMA 4 | 311007 |
| SAITAMA 5 | 308263 |
| SAITAMA 6 | 385468 |
| SAITAMA 7 | 361386 |
| SAITAMA 8 | 325386 |
| SAITAMA 9 | 371143 |
| SAITAMA 10 | 192159 |
| SAITAMA 11 | 337022 |
| SAITAMA 12 | 338071 |
| SAITAMA 13 | 329659 |
| SAITAMA 14 | 356010 |
| SAITAMA 15 | 322630 |
| SHIGA 1 | 309285 |
| SHIGA 2 | 256846 |
| SHIGA 3 | 242541 |
| SHIGA 4 | 284598 |
| SHIMANE 1 | 304932 |
| SHIMANE 2 | 350516 |
| SHIZUOKA 1 | 360577 |
| SHIZUOKA 2 | 399142 |
| SHIZUOKA 3 | 378657 |
| SHIZUOKA 4 | 319621 |
| SHIZUOKA 5 | 440353 |
| SHIZUOKA 6 | 419130 |
| SHIZUOKA 7 | 350330 |
| SHIZUOKA 8 | 356377 |
| TOCHIGI 1 | 399225 |
| TOCHIGI 2 | 270405 |
| TOCHIGI 3 | 221163 |
| TOCHIGI 4 | 402139 |
| TOCHIGI 5 | 290238 |
| TOKUSHIMA 1 | 198440 |
| TOKUSHIMA 2 | 226532 |
| TOKUSHIMA 3 | 224798 |
| TOKYO 1 | 400920 |
| TOKYO 2 | 366063 |
| TOKYO 3 | 422791 |
| TOKYO 4 | 359437 |
| TOKYO 5 | 400759 |
| TOKYO 6 | 416984 |
| TOKYO 7 | 369400 |
| TOKYO 8 | 398024 |
| TOKYO 9 | 399697 |
| TOKYO 10 | 301001 |
| TOKYO 11 | 373544 |
| TOKYO 12 | 354070 |
| TOKYO 13 | 344171 |
| TOKYO 14 | 311877 |
| TOKYO 15 | 334248 |
| TOKYO 16 | 365474 |
| TOKYO 17 | 363395 |
| TOKYO 18 | 370434 |
| TOKYO 19 | 417345 |
| TOKYO 20 | 358554 |
| TOKYO 21 | 333123 |
| TOKYO 22 | 412771 |
| TOKYO 23 | 417059 |
| TOKYO 24 | 405310 |
| TOKYO 25 | 272460 |
| TOTTORI 1 | 266943 |
| TOTTORI 2 | 239179 |
| TOYAMA 1 | 252194 |
| TOYAMA 2 | 254880 |
| TOYAMA 3 | 407798 |
| WAKAYAMA 1 | 286967 |
| WAKAYAMA 2 | 228247 |
| WAKAYAMA 3 | 312362 |
| YAMAGATA 1 | 332420 |
| YAMAGATA 2 | 367208 |
| YAMAGATA 3 | 332175 |
| YAMAGUCHI 1 | 348754 |
| YAMAGUCHI 2 | 318362 |
| YAMAGUCHI 3 | 269477 |
| YAMAGUCHI 4 | 264175 |
| YAMANASHI 1 | 233469 |
| YAMANASHI 2 | 273951 |
| YAMANASHI 3 | 277180 |
Prefectural and local elections
Prefectural parliaments and governors, as well as mayors and assemblies in municipalities are elected for four-year terms. Many of these elections are held at the same time in the "unified local elections" (tōitsu chihō senkyo); in the last unified local election on April 6, 2007, 13 governors, 44 prefectural parliaments and mayors or assemblies in more than 1,000 cities, special wards, towns and villages were up for election.- Japanese unified regional elections, 2011Japanese unified regional elections, 2011The 17th unified regional elections in Japan took place in April 2011. In the first phase on April 10, 2011 13 governors, 41 prefectural parliaments as well as five mayors and 15 councils in cities designated by government ordinance were elected...
- Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2003
- Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2007Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2007Tokyo held a gubernatorial election on April 8, 2007 as part of the 16th unified local elections. There were fourteen candidates , among them the incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara. All candidates ran as independents but some were supported by various parties....
- Tokyo prefectural election, 2001Tokyo prefectural election, 2001Prefectural elections were held in Tokyo for the city's Metropolitan Assembly on June 24, 2001. The Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito Party secured their positions as ruling parties. Japanese Communist Party lost almost half its seats while Democratic Party of Japan saw an increase by ten...
- Tokyo prefectural election, 2005Tokyo prefectural election, 2005Prefectural elections were held in Tokyo for the city's Metropolitan Assembly on 3 July 2005. The election was a great success for the Democratic Party of Japan which won 16 additional seats, closing in on the Liberal Democratic Party.-References:*...
- Tokyo prefectural election, 2009Tokyo prefectural election, 2009Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 12 July 2009. In the runup to the Japanese general election due by October they were seen as an important test for Taro Aso's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito...
Ballots, voting machines and early voting
Votes in national and most local elections are cast by writing the candidate's or party's name on a blank ballot paper. In elections for the House of Representatives voters fill in two ballots, one with the name of their preferred district candidate and one with their preferred party in the proportional representation block. For the House of Councillors, the district vote is similar (In SNTVSingle non-transferable vote
The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...
multi-member districts, several candidates can be elected, but every voter has only one vote). But in the proportional vote for the House of Councillors votes are cast for a party list (to determine how many proportional seats a party receives) or a candidate (which additionally influences which candidates are elected from a party's list).
Ballots that cannot unambiguously be assigned to a candidate are not considered invalid, but are proportionally assigned to all potentially intended candidates. These so-called "proportional fractional votes" (按分票, ambunhyō) are rounded to the third decimal.
In 2002, passage of an electronic voting law allowed for the introduction of electronic voting machine
Voting machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
s in local elections. The first machine vote took place in Niimi, Okayama
Niimi, Okayama
is a city located in Okayama, Japan.As of March 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 34,035 , 13,077 households and the density of 42.90 persons per km²...
in June 2002. In 2003, a system for early voting
Early voting
Early voting is the process by which electors can vote on a single or series of days prior to an election. Early voting can take place remotely, such as by mail, or in person, usually in designated early voting polling stations. The availability and time periods for early voting vary based on...
(期日前投票制度, kijitsu-mae tōhyō seido) was introduced. In the Japanese general election, 2009
Japanese general election, 2009
A general election in Japan was held on August 30, 2009, for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan....
a record number of more than 10 million Japanese voted early.
See also
- Electoral calendar
- ElectionElectionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
(general article) - Political funding in JapanPolitical funding in JapanIn Japan, the problem of political funding was intensely debated during the late 1980s and early 1990s, partly as a result of revelations following the Recruit scandal of 1988-89...
- Japanese Diet