Japanese general election, 1980

Japanese general election, 1980

1979 ←
22 June 1980
→ 1983

All 511 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan
256 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Masayoshi Ōhira Ichio Asukata
Party Liberal Democratic Socialist
Last election 248 seats, 44.59% 107 seats, 19.71%
Seats won 284 107
Seat change +36 ±0
Popular vote 28,262,441 11,400,747
Percentage 47.88% 19.31%

Prime Minister before election

Masayoshi Ōhira
Liberal Democratic

Prime Minister-designate

Masayoshi Ōhira (deceased) /
Zenkō Suzuki
Liberal Democratic

Japan

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Japan



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In Japan on 16 May 1980, Japan Socialist Party (JSP) brought a no-confidence motion to the Diet, mentioning corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives of Japan (lower house) to withdraw its backing from the 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. The government was defeated by 56 votes in total of 243 and resigned. For the first time elections for the both houses of the Diet were called in June 1980. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below.

Election results

e • d Summary of the 22 June 1980 Japanese House of Representatives election results[1][2]
Parties Candidates Votes[3]  % Seats +/-
(dissolution)
   Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 310 28,262,442 47.88% 284 26
   Japanese Socialist Party (JSP) 149 11,400,747 19.31% 107 0
   Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 129 5,803,613 9.83% 29 12
   Justice Party 64 5,329,942 9.03% 33 25
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) 50 3,896,728 6.60% 32 4
New Liberal Club (NLC) 25 1,766,396 2.99% 12 8
Social Democratic Federation (SDF) 5 402,832 0.68% 3 1
Center-left opposition 144 11,395,898 19.30% 80 20
  Others 42 109,168 0.18% 0 0
  Independents 61 2,056,967 3.48% 11 7
Totals (Turnout 74.6%, incl. invalid votes) 835 59,028,837 100.00% 511 1
(vacant seat)

References

  1. ^ Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Statistics Department, Long-term statistics, chapter 27: Public servants and elections, sections 27-7 to 27-10 Elections for the House of Representatives
  2. ^ Interparliamentary Union (IPU): 1979 and 1980 Shūgiin elections
  3. ^ Fractional votes rounded to full numbers