House of Councillors
| House of Councillors 参議院 Sangiin |
|
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | Upper house |
| Leadership | |
| President | Takeo Nishioka, DPJ since 2010 |
| Structure | |
| Members | 242 |
| Election | |
| Last election | 11 July 2010 |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| National Diet Building, Tokyo | |
| Website | |
| www.sangiin.go.jp | |
| Japan |
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The House of Councillors (参議院 Sangiin) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions, the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present. However with the introduction of proportional representation in the House of Representatives, the upper house has significantly enhanced its power to block legislation with final effect at the expense of the former where the government fails to attain the two-thirds mark in almost every general election, such as in the recent case of the Postal Privatisation Bill block; this development has made the House of Councillors quite powerful.
The House of Councillors has 242 members who each serve six-year terms, two years longer than those of the House of Representatives. Councillors must be at least 30 years old, compared with 25 years old in the House of Representatives. The House cannot be dissolved, as only half of its membership is elected at each election, using a parallel voting system. Of the 121 members subject to election each time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts (by single non-transferable vote) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation with open lists. Up to the 1998 election, there were 252 members, 126 elected at a time: 76 from prefectural districts and 50 elected nationwide. At the 2001 elections these numbers were reduced and the total number was 247 (126 elected in 1998 and 121 elected in 2001) and the open list preference vote was introduced.
See List of members of the Diet of Japan for the list of current members of the House of Councillors.
Contents |
Current composition
(as of July 31, 2010)[1]
| parliamentary group | Councillors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mandate expires | total | |||
| 2013 | 2016 | |||
| Democratic Party of Japan/Shinryokufūkai | 62 | 44 | 106 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 32 | 51 | 83 | |
| Kōmeitō | 10 | 9 | 19 | |
| Your Party | 1 | 10 | 11 | |
| Japanese Communist Party | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| Sunrise Party of Japan/New Renaissance Party | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Social Democratic Party/"Alliance to protect the constitution" (goken rengō) | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| People's New Party | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Independents includes President (Democrat) and Vice President (Liberal Democrat), one OSMP and one HRP member |
5 | 0 | 5 | |
| total | 121 | 121 | 242 | |
Latest election
| Alliances and parties | Prefectural seats 2010 | +/− | Proportional seats 2010 | +/− | Prefectural Votes | % | Proportional votes | % | +/− | Elected in 2010 | Not up | Total seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō – 民主党 | 28 |  12 |
16 | 4 |
22,755,999 | 39.0 | 18,450,138 | 31.6% | 16 |
44 | 62 | 106 | |
| People's New Party (PNP) Kokuminshintō – 国民新党 | 0 | 1 |
0 | 1 |
167,555 | 0.3 | 1,000,034 | 1.7% | 3 |
0 | 3 | 3 | |
| New Party Nippon (NPN) (counted as independent government supporter by NHK) Shintō – 新党日本 | 0 |  0 |
0 | 1 |
no candidate | 0 |
0 | 1 | 1[5] | ||||
| DPJ–PNP Coalition | 28 | 13 |
16 | 5 |
22,923,554 | 39.3 | 19,450,172 | 33.3% | 19 |
44 | 65 | 110 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jimintō – 自民党 | 39 |  16 |
12 | 2 |
19,496,083 | 33.4 | 14,071,438 | 24.1% | 13 |
51 | 33 | 84 | |
| New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō – 公明党 | 3 | 1 |
6 | 1 |
2,265,818 | 3.9 | 7,639,437 | 13.1% | 2 |
9 | 10 | 19 | |
| New Renaissance Party (NRP) Kaikaku – 改革 | 0 | 0 |
1 | 1 |
625,431 | 1.1 | 1,172,394 | 2.0% | 4 |
1 | 1 | 2 | |
| LDP–NKP—NRP Coalition | 42 | 17 |
19 | 3 |
22,387,332 | 38.4 | 21,883,269 | 39.2% | 7 |
61 | 44 | 105 | |
| Your Party (YP) Minna no Tō – みんなの党 | 3 | 3 |
7 | 7 |
5,977,390 | 10.2 | 7,943,875 | 13.6% | 10 |
10 | 1 | 11 | |
| Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Kyōsantō – 共産党 | 0 | 0 |
3 | 0 |
4,256,400 | 7.3 | 3,563,554 | 6.1% | 1 |
3 | 3 | 6 | |
| Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shamintō – 社民党 | 0 | 0 |
2 | 0 |
602,684 | 1.0 | 2,242,735 | 3.8% | 0 |
2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Sunrise Party of Japan (SPJ) Tachini – たち日 | 0 | 0 |
1 | 1 |
328,475 | 0.6 | 1,232,207 | 2.1% | 1 |
1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Happiness Realization Party (HRP) Kōfuku – 幸福 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
included in others | 229,024 | 0.4% | 0 |
0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Other independents, including Keiko Itokazu of Okinawa Social Mass Party | 0 | 7 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
0 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Total (turnout %) | 73 | — | 48 | — | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
121 | 121 | 242 | |||
See also
- List of Speakers of the House of Councillors (Japan)
References
- ↑ http://www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/joho1/kousei/giin/175/giinsu.htm
- ↑ election results final breakdown. NHK.
- ↑ Election Resources on the Internet: Parliamentary Elections in Japan, Parts I and II (accessed 13 July 2010)
- ↑ decimal (fractional) votes omitted, for full results including "proportional fractional votes" (ambunhyō), see Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: Results of the 22nd House of Councillors election
- ↑ not a member of New Party Nippon by the time he took his seat as replacement for Yasuo Tanaka: [1]
External links
- House of Councillors Website (in English)
- House of Councillors internet TV - Official site (in Japanese)
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