2014 Japanese general election: Difference between revisions

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Generally, the retention referendum (formally ''kokumin shinsa'', "popular review") to confirm judges of the [[Supreme Court of Japan|Supreme Court]] who have been recently appointed or not confirmed for 10 years is held together with a lower house election.
Generally, the retention referendum (formally ''kokumin shinsa'', "popular review") to confirm judges of the [[Supreme Court of Japan|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.<ref>Ibaraki prefectural election commission: [http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/senkan/2014kengisen/2014kengisen.html 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] (in Japanese)</ref> Another prefectural election in December 2014 is the gubernatorial election in Miyazaki, scheduled for December 21.<ref>Miyazaki prefectural election commission: [http://www.pref.miyazaki.lg.jp/contents/org/kakushu/senkan/page00093.html Schedule for the Miyazaki gubernatorial election] (in Japanese)</ref>
Subnational elections scheduled for December 14 include the prefectural assembly election in Ibaraki.<ref>Ibaraki prefectural election commission: [http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/senkan/2014kengisen/2014kengisen.html 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] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112125008/http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/senkan/2014kengisen/2014kengisen.html |date=2014-11-12 }} (in Japanese)</ref> Another prefectural election in December 2014 is the gubernatorial election in Miyazaki, scheduled for December 21.<ref>Miyazaki prefectural election commission: [http://www.pref.miyazaki.lg.jp/contents/org/kakushu/senkan/page00093.html Schedule for the Miyazaki gubernatorial election] (in Japanese)</ref>


==Boundary changes==
==Boundary changes==

Revision as of 10:41, 22 November 2017

Japanese general election, 2014

← 2012 14 December 2014 2017 →

All 475 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan
238 seats needed for a majority
Turnout52.66%
  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, 27.62% 57 seats, 15.49% New party
Seats won 291 73 41
Seat change Decrease3 Increase11 Decrease1
Popular vote 17,658,916 9,775,991 8,382,699
Percentage 33.11% 18.33% 15.72%
Swing Increase5.49% Increase2.84% N/A

  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, 11.83% 8 seats, 6.13% New party
Seats won 35 21 2
Seat change Increase4 Increase13 Decrease18
Popular vote 7,314,236 6,062,962 1,414,919
Percentage 13.71% 11.37% 2.65%
Swing Increase1.88% Increase5.24% N/A

  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, 2.36% New party
Seats won 2 2
Seat change Steady0 Decrease3
Popular vote 1,314,441 1,028,721
Percentage 2.46% 1.93%
Swing Increase0.10% N/A


Prime Minister before election

Shinzō Abe
Liberal Democratic

Prime Minister-designate

Shinzō Abe
Liberal Democratic

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.

Background

In 2012, the Democratic Party of Japan 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]Template:Japanese general election, 2014

Single-member plurality vote in 295 districts
LDP (contesting 283)
48.10%
DPJ (contesting 187)
22.51%
JCP (contesting 292)
13.30%
JIP (contesting 77)
8.16%
PFG (contesting 39)
1.79%
NKP (contesting 9)
1.45%
PLP (contesting 13)
0.97%
SDP (contesting 18)
0.79%
45 independents
2.85%
5 others
0.08%
295 single-member plurality seats
LDP
75.59%
DPJ
12.88%
JIP
3.73%
NKP
3.05%
PFG
0.68%
PLP
0.68%
JCP
0.34%
SDP
0.34%
Independents
2.71%
Proportional vote in 11 multi-member districts/"blocks"
LDP (contesting 11)
33.11%
DPJ (contesting 11)
18.33%
JIP (contesting 11)
15.72%
NKP (contesting 11)
13.71%
JCP (contesting 11)
11.37%
PFG (contesting 11)
2.65%
SDP (contesting 11)
2.46%
PLP (contesting 8)
1.93%
HRP (contesting 11)
0.49%
Others (contesting 1)
0.20%
NRP (contesting 1)
0.03%
180 proportional seats
LDP
37.78%
DPJ
19.44%
JIP
16.67%
NKP
14.44%
JCP
11.11%
SDP
0.56%
Total 475 lower house seats
LDP
61.26%
DPJ
15.37%
JIP
8.63%
NKP
7.37%
JCP
4.42%
PFG
0.42%
SDP
0.42%
PLP
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.[7] He was questioned in October after allegedly receiving financial support from a fraudulent company.[8]

Amongst the DPJ members to lose their seats were party leader Banri Kaieda.[9] 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.[9]

Former leader of the now-dissolved Your Party and six-term representative for Tochigi-3rd district, Yoshimi Watanabe was also defeated.[10]

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.[11] Another prefectural election in December 2014 is the gubernatorial election in Miyazaki, scheduled for December 21.[12]

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.[13]

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.[14][15]

Polling

Parties' approval ratings from 2013–14

(Source: NHK)

Date bgcolor=Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Democratic Party of Japan/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Japan Restoration Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Party for Future Generations/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:New Komeito Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Your Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:People's Life Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Japanese Communist Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Social Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Green Breeze Party/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Unity Party (Japan)/meta/color | bgcolor=Template:Japan Innovation Party/meta/color | 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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% style="background:Template:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)/meta/color; color:white"| 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[16] 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[17] Shinzo Abe 69% 6%
9–10 March[18] Shinzo Abe 76% 22%
8–10 March Shinzo Abe 66% 18%
10–12 February Shinzo Abe 64% 20%
8–10 February[19] Shinzo Abe 71% 18%
12–14 January Shinzo Abe 64% 22%
11–13 January[19] 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. ^ NHK(Japan Broadcasting Corporation). "NHK2014衆院選". NHK2014衆院選.
  8. ^ Sukyandaru
  9. ^ a b "Abe tightens grip on power as ruling coalition wins 325 seats in Lower House election". The Japan Times.
  10. ^ "Ex-Your Party leader Watanabe, ex-Tokyo Gov. Ishihara to lose seats". mainichi.jp. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ Miyazaki prefectural election commission: Schedule for the Miyazaki gubernatorial election (in Japanese)
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ The Japan Times, November 25, 2015: Supreme Court says December election ‘in state of unconstitutionality,’ but won’t nullify results
  16. ^ "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. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "【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.
  18. ^ TBS/JNN
  19. ^ a b 内閣支持率71%、2回連続上昇...読売世論調査

External links

Media related to Japanese general election, 2014 at Wikimedia Commons