Japan Press Weekly

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2024 October 23 - 29 [JCP]

JCP secures 8 seats

In the House of Representatives general election held on October 27, the Japanese Communist Party retained a seat in the Okinawa No.1 single-seat district, but decreased its seats from nine to seven in proportional representation blocs, leading to eight seats from its pre-election strength of ten.

The JCP obtained 3.36 million votes (or 6.16% of the total vote cast) by proportional representation, down about 800,000 votes from the 2021 general election.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties suffered a heavy defeat, losing their majority in the 465-seat Lower House. It is pointed out that this situation resulted from the JCP revelation of the LDP’s slush fund scandal as well as from an Akahata scoop regarding the LDP’s use of state subsidies to support scandal-hit lawmakers’ general election campaigns.

The LDP reduced its seats to 191 from the pre-election strength of 247. Among 46 candidates involved in the off-the-book fund scandal, 28 lost their seats. Two Ishiba Cabinet ministers were also defeated.

The Komei Party decreased its number of seats to 24 from 32. Unsuccessful candidates included the party head, Ishii Keiichi. As a result, the ruling bloc took 215 seats in the Lower House, sharply down from 279.

The number of seats other major opposition parties secured was 148 for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (up 50 seats), 38 for the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party (down 5), 28 for the Democratic Party for the People (up 21), 9 for the “Reiwa Shinsengumi” party (up 6), and one for the Social Democratic Party.

The pro-constitutional revision forces - the LDP, the Komei, the Ishin, and the DPP - failed to maintain more than 310 seats or two thirds of the Lower House, the number required to initiate a constitutional amendment. The voter turnout rate stood at 53.85%, the third lowest in postwar history in Japan.

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In Iwate Prefecture, the joint struggle of opposition parties, including the JCP, made a success in the No.3 constituency. In Tokyo where the JCP “voluntarily” supported CDPJ candidates in nine districts, eight candidates achieved the victory.

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On October 27, the House of Councilors by-election also took place in Iwate Prefecture and a jointly supported opposition candidate won the race.

Past related article:
> Opposition parties’ joint struggle formed in 2 districts in Iwate and JCP will ‘voluntarily’ support CDPJ candidates in 9 districts in Tokyo [October 16, 2024]