general_election3

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

LDP takes 73% of seats with 48% of votes cast

In the single seat-constituencies, the Liberal Democratic Party obtained 73 percent of the 300 seats with just 47.8 percent of the votes cast, showing how undemocratic this voting system is.

By contrast, the Democratic Party, which received 36.4 percent of the vote, got 17.3 percent of seats.

The Japanese Communist Party received 7.3 percent of the votes cast but it obtained no seats.

As for the proportional representation seats, the LDP' won 42.8 percent of the seats with 38.2 percent of the votes cast, and the JCP obtained five percent of the seats with 7.3 percent of the votes cast.

In the 17-seat proportional representation Tokyo bloc, the JCP received 8.85 percent of the votes and secured one seat.

After the election...

At a news conference on September 12, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said that the electorate responded favorably to his call for the privatization of postal services.

Reiterating his plan to have the postal privatization bills enacted in the coming special session of the Diet later in September, Koizumi said, "Not only the postal reform but other reforms will be carried out based on the achievements recorded during the last four years."

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties intend to propose that a special session of the Diet be held for 40 days from September 21. The postal privatization bills, which were scrapped in the extended ordinary session of the Diet, will be submitted again.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party of Japan President Okada Katsuya is to take responsibility for the party's major defeat in the September 11 House of Representatives general election.

He had said he would resign if the DPJ failed to win a majority in the Lower House in order to take power. -- Akahata, September 13, 2005

House of Representatives General Election Results (September 11)

Parties Total Single-seat Proportional Seats won in
Constituencies representation 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JCP 9 0 9 9
LDP 296 219 77 237
DPJ 113 52 61 177
Komei 31 8 23 34
SDP 7 1 6 6
PNP 4 2 2 -
Nippon 1 0 1 -
Other/Ind. 19 18 1 17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 480 300 180 480

Numbers of votes by political party (%)

proportional representation single-seat constituencies

JCP 4,919,187 (7.3) 4,937,371 (7.3)
LDP 25,887,798 (38.2) 32,518,388 (47.8)
DPJ 21,036,425 (3.4) 24,804,784 (36.4)
Komei 8,987,620 (13.3) 981,105 (1.4)
SDP 3,719,522 (5.5) 996,007 (1.5)
PNP 1,183,073 (1.7) 432,679 (0.6)
Nippon 1,643,506 (2.4) 3,258,776 (4.8)

Parties:
JCP = Japanese Communist Party
LDP = Liberal Democratic Party
Komei = Komei Party
DPJ = Democratic Party of Japan
SDP = Social Democratic Party
PNP = People's New Party (Founded immediately before the election)
Nippon = New Party Nippon (Founded immediately before the election)
Ind = Independents