1980 Japanese general election

1980 Japanese general election

← 1979 22 June 1980 1983 →

All 511 seats in the House of Representatives
256 seats needed for a majority
Turnout74.57% (Increase6.56%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Eiichi_Nishimura1.jpg
Ichio Asukata Crop.png
Yoshikatsu-Takeiri-3.png
Leader Eiichi Nishimura (acting) Ichio Asukata Yoshikatsu Takeiri
Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō
Last election 44.59%, 248 seats 19.71%, 107 seats 9.78%, 57 seats
Seats won 284 107 33
Seat change Increase36 Steady Decrease24
Popular vote 28,262,441 11,400,748 5,329,942
Percentage 47.88% 19.31% 9.03%
Swing Increase3.29pp Decrease0.40pp Decrease0.74pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Ryosaku-Sasaki-1.png
Kenji Miyamoto (cropped).jpg
Leader Sasaki Ryōsaku Kenji Miyamoto Yōhei Kōno
Party Democratic Socialist JCP New Liberal Club
Last election 6.78%, 35 seats 10.42%, 39 seats 3.02%, 4 seats
Seats won 32 29 12
Seat change Decrease4 Decrease10 Increase8
Popular vote 3,896,728 5,803,613 1,766,396
Percentage 6.60% 9.83% 2.99%
Swing Decrease0.18pp Decrease0.59pp Decrease0.03pp

Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength

Prime Minister before election

Masayoshi Ito (acting)
LDP

Elected Prime Minister

Zenkō Suzuki
LDP

General elections were held in Japan on 22 June 1980. The incumbent Liberal Democratic Party won an overall majority for the first time since 1972.

Campaign

Vote of no confidence in the Ohira cabinet

The election was triggered following a vote of no confidence brought by the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) on 16 May 1980 regarding corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives of Japan (lower house) to withdraw its backing from the LDP government.

Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion, leading to the fall of the government.

For the first time, the election for the House of Representatives was held in conjunction with the election for the House of Councillors on the same day.

Death of the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party died during the campaign. Ōhira had expected the vote of no confidence to fail, and was visibly shaken when it passed by a margin of 243–187. Given the choice of resigning or calling new elections, Ōhira chose the latter and began campaigning for LDP candidates. He was hospitalized for exhaustion on 31 May and died of a massive heart attack 12 days later.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Masayoshi Ito became acting prime minister after Ōhira's death. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below. Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Secretary General of LDP, led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the "sympathy vote" generated by Ōhira's death. The Prime Minister was succeeded by Zenkō Suzuki after the election.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Democratic Party28,262,44247.88284+36
Japan Socialist Party11,400,74819.311070
Japanese Communist Party5,803,6139.8329–10
Kōmeitō5,329,9429.0333–24
Democratic Socialist Party3,896,7286.6032–4
New Liberal Club1,766,3962.9912+8
Socialist Democratic Federation402,8320.683+1
Other parties109,1680.180
Independents2,056,9673.4811–8
Total59,028,836100.005110
Valid votes59,028,83697.82
Invalid/blank votes1,313,4922.18
Total votes60,342,328100.00
Registered voters/turnout80,925,03474.57
Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan, National Diet

By prefecture

Prefecture Total
seats
Seats won
LDP JSP Kōmeitō DSP JCP NLC SDF Ind.
Aichi 22 11 2 2 4 1 2
Akita 8 5 3
Aomori 7 5 1 1
Chiba 16 11 2 2 1
Ehime 9 6 3
Fukui 4 3 1
Fukuoka 19 9 2 3 2 2 1
Fukushima 12 9 2 1
Gifu 9 6 2 1
Gunma 10 7 3
Hiroshima 12 7 3 1 1
Hokkaido 22 11 9 1 1
Hyōgo 20 9 6 2 2 1
Ibaraki 12 9 3
Ishikawa 6 5 1
Iwate 8 6 2
Kagawa 6 4 2
Kagoshima 11 9 2
Kanagawa 19 5 5 3 2 1 3
Kōchi 5 2 1 1 1
Kumamoto 10 7 2 1
Kyoto 10 3 2 2 2 1
Mie 9 6 2 1
Miyagi 9 6 2 1
Miyazaki 6 5 1
Nagano 13 7 4 1 1
Nagasaki 9 5 2 1 1
Nara 5 2 1 1 1
Niigata 15 8 5 2
Ōita 7 5 1 1
Okayama 10 6 2 1 1
Okinawa 5 2 1 1 1
Osaka 26 7 3 6 3 6 1
Saga 5 4 1
Saitama 15 9 3 1 1 1
Shiga 5 2 1 1 1
Shimane 5 3 2
Shizuoka 14 8 1 1 2 1 1
Tochigi 10 6 3 1
Tokushima 5 4 1
Tokyo 43 15 7 6 2 7 5 1
Tottori 4 2 2
Toyama 6 5 1
Wakayama 6 3 1 1 1
Yamagata 8 5 2 1
Yamaguchi 9 6 2 1
Yamanashi 5 4 1
Total 511 284 107 33 32 29 12 3 11

References

  • Mahendra Prakash (2004), Coalition Experience in Japanese Politics: 1993-2003, New Delhi: JNU[1].