2014 Japanese general election

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.

2014 Japanese general election

14 December 2014

All 475 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan
238 seats needed for a majority
Turnout52.66% (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 57 seats New party
Seats won 291 73 41
Seat change 3 11 1
Constituency Vote 25,461,448 11,916,849 4,319,645
% and change 48.10% 5.09% 22.51% 0.30% 8.16%
PR Block Vote 17,658,916 9,775,991 8,382,699
% and change 33.11% 5.49% 18.33% 2.84% 15.72%

  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 8 seats New party
Seats won 35 21 2
Seat change 4 13 18
Constituency Vote 765,390 7,040,130 947,395
% and change 1.45% 0.04% 13.30% 5.42% 1.79%
PR Block Vote 7,314,236 6,062,962 1,414,919
% and change 13.71% 1.81% 11.37% 5.20% 2.65%

  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 New party
Seats won 2 2
Seat change 0 3
Constituency Vote 419,347 514,575
% and change 0.79% 0.03% 0.97%
PR Block Vote 1,314,441 1,028,721
% and change 2.46% 0.08% 1.93

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

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]

 Summary of the 14 December 2014 Japanese House of Representatives election results[7][8]
Political Party Local Constituency VotePR Block Vote Total Seats+/−
Votes[9]%Seats Votes%Seats Total% BeforeLast
Government coalition 26,226,83849.54%232 24,973,15246.82%94 32668.63%0+1
Liberal Democratic PartyLDP 25,461,44848.1%223 17,658,91633.11%68 29161.26%-4-3
KomeitoNKP 765,3901.45%9 7,314,23613.71%26 357.37%+4+4
Democratic PartyDPJ 11,916,84922.51%38 9,775,99118.33%35 7315.37%+10+16
Innovation PartyJIP 4,319,6458.16%11 8,382,69915.72%30 418.63%-1New
Japan Communist PartyJCP 7,040,13013.3%1 6,062,96211.37%20 214.42%+13+13
Party for Future GenerationsPFG 947,3951.79%2 1,414,9192.65%0 20.42%-17New
Social Democratic PartySDP 419,3470.79%1 1,314,4412.46%1 20.42%00
People's Life PartyPLP 514,5750.97%2 1,028,7211.93%0 20.42%-3New
New Renaissance PartyNRP --- 16,5970.03%0 00.00%00
Others 43,5460.08%0 364,9650.69%0 00.00%00
Independents 1,511,2422.85%8 81.68%-7+3
Total 52,939,789100.00%295 53,334,447100.00%180 475100%-5[10]-
FPTP vote in 295 single-member constituencies
Liberal Democratic (contesting 283)
48.10%
Democratic Party (contesting 187)
22.51%
Japanese Communist (contesting 292)
13.30%
Japan Innovation (contesting 77)
8.16%
Party for Future Generations (contesting 39)
1.79%
Komeito (contesting 9)
1.45%
People's Life (contesting 13)
0.97%
Social Democratic (contesting 18)
0.79%
5 others
0.08%
295 single-member constituencies
Liberal Democratic
75.59%
Democratic Party
12.88%
Japan Innovation
3.73%
Komeito
3.05%
Party for Future Generations
0.68%
People's Life
0.68%
Japanese Communist
0.34%
Social Democratic
0.34%
Independents
2.71%
Proportional vote in 11 multi-member blocks
Liberal Democratic (contesting 11)
33.11%
Democratic Party (contesting 11)
18.33%
Japan Innovation (contesting 11)
15.72%
Komeito (contesting 11)
13.71%
Japanese Communist (contesting 11)
11.37%
Party for Future Generations (contesting 11)
2.65%
Social Democratic (contesting 11)
2.46%
People's Life (contesting 8)
1.93%
Happiness Realization (contesting 11)
0.49%
Others (contesting 1)
0.20%
New Renaissance (contesting 1)
0.03%
180 proportional seats
Liberal Democratic
37.78%
Democratic Party
19.44%
Japan Innovation
16.67%
Komeito
14.44%
Japanese Communist
11.11%
Social Democratic
0.56%
Total 475 lower house seats
Liberal Democratic
61.26%
Democratic Party
15.37%
Japan Innovation
8.63%
Komeito
7.37%
Japanese Communist
4.42%
Party for Future Generations
0.42%
Social Democratic
0.42%
People's Life
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 Archived 2014-10-18 at the Wayback Machine (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. Archived from the original on 2013-03-03. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
  23. TBS/JNN
  24. 内閣支持率71%、2回連続上昇...読売世論調査

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