2009 Japanese general election
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All 480 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan | |||||||||||||||||||
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General elections in Japan will be held on 30 August 2009[1] for all of 480 seats of the House of Representatives, which designates a Prime Minister of Japan. In the election, it is widely expected that the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which gained the control of the upper house in 2007, will defeat the ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party), ending its 54 year near-uninterrupted control of government.[2] The voter turnout is also expected to be high.[3]
According to a poll conducted on 22 August by the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper, 40 percent said they would vote for the DPJ, while 24 percent for the LDP.[4] Since the DPJ does not have the control of majority in the upper house, DPJ leader Hatoyama said that he would seek a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party and People's New Party, no matter how much his party wins.[5]
The last general election took place in 2005 in which the LDP led by popular prime minister Junichiro Koizumi won in landslide, enabling him to complete the privatization of Japan Post. Since then Japan has had three further prime ministers - Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso - who have come to power without there being a general election.
Background
On 11 June 2008, a non-binding censure motion was passed by parliament's opposition-controlled House of Councillors against Yasuo Fukuda. Filed by the Democratic Party of Japan and two other parties, it was the first censure motion against a prime minister under Japan's post-war constitution. Ahead of the G8 summit, it attacked his handling of domestic issues including an unpopular medical plan and called for a snap election or his resignation. On 12 June a motion of confidence was passed by the lower house's ruling coalition to counter the censure.[6][7][8] Fukuda abruptly announced he was retiring as leader. Taro Aso won the subsequent election, which was held on 22 September 2008.[9]
Media sources speculated that, in the wake of a recent change in leadership, Prime Minister Taro Aso might call elections in late October or early November 2008 while his popularity was still high,[10][11] but his ratings dropped quickly after his leadership takeover, calling the prospect of early elections into doubt.[12]
There were expectations that the steady decline and numerous scandals of the LDP might lead to the complete extinction of the party and the creation of a new political system, with actual ideologically coherent parties emerging instead of the current system of a shared interest in power with stark ideological differences.[13]
In late June 2009, there were rumours of a planned election date in early August 2009.[14] In prefectural elections in Tokyo, the LDP again lost a lot of seats and was for the first time since 1965 not the largest party in the prefectural assembly. The next day, Aso confirmed these rumours by calling for an election on 30 August 2009.[1]
As soon as the election was called, a campaign was underway by a group of LDP Diet Members to replace Aso as leader. Fully one third of the parliamentary party (including finance minister Kaoru Yosano) were reported to have signed a petition calling for an urgent party meeting to discuss the issue. The BBC reported LDP critics of Aso asserting that an election with him still as leader would be "political suicide".[15]
Prime Minister Aso dissolved the House of Representatives on 21 July 2009.[16]
Former LDP minister Yoshimi Watanabe announced the foundation of a new party, Your Party, on 8 August 2009.[17]
The official campaign started on 18 August 2009.[18]
Policy platforms
The DPJ's policy platforms include: the restructuring of civil service (meaning layoff and pay-cut), monthly allowance to a family with children (26,000 yen per child), cut in gas tax, income support for farmers, free tuition for public high schools, banning of temporary work in manufacturing,[19] raising the minimum-wage to 1,000 yen and halting of increase in sales tax for the next four years.[18][20][21]
Pre-election polls
Before the dissolution of the lower house, National weekly magazines had been citing analysts predicting a big loss for the ruling coalition which currently holds two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives. Some (e.g., Shūkan Gendai[22]) warned that the LDP could lose as much as half of that. Many based their predictions on the low approval rating of the Prime Minister Taro Aso and the devastating loss that the LDP suffered in the recent prefectural election in Tokyo. On August 20 and 21, Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun, leading national newspapers, and Nikkei Shimbun, a financial daily, reported that the DPJ is poised to win over 300 of the 480 contested seats.[23][24][25]
On August 22, Mainichi Shimbun went further to predict that the DPJ could win over 320 seats, meaning almost all DPJ candidates would win.[26] Mainichi noted that the DPJ appeared to be doing well in the western part of Japan, a traditional stronghold of the LDP, and that the LDP could lose all of its single-member constituency seats in 15 prefectures, including Hokkaido, Aichi, and Saitama.[27] Also, according to Mainichi, the Japanese Communist Party will probably retain its previous 9 seats, while the Komeito Party and the Social Democratic Party may lose some of their shares.
Candidates by party
| Party | Number of Candidates | Gender of Candidates | Proportional representation | Holding seats at dissolution | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Constituencies | Proportional representation | ||||||
| Liberal Democratic Party | 326 | 299 | 27 | 306 | 37 | 303 | |||
| New Komeito | 51 | 47 | 4 | 8 | 43 | 31 | |||
| Kaikaku Club | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Democratic Party of Japan | 330 | 284 | 46 | 271 | 59 | 112 | |||
| Social Democratic Party | 37 | 25 | 12 | 31 | 6 | 7 | |||
| People's New Party | 18 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 5 | |||
| New Party Nippon | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | |||
| Communist Party of Japan | 171 | 119 | 52 | 152 | 19 | 9 | |||
| Your Party | 15 | 12 | 3 | 14 | 1 | -[28] | |||
| New Party Daichi | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Happiness Realization Party | 337 | 262 | 75 | 288 | 49 | 0 | |||
| Essential party | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| World Economic Community Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Freeway Club Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Smile Japan Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 森海党 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Independent | 70 | 61 | 9 | 70 | -[29] | 9 | |||
| Total | 1,374 | 1,145 | 229 | 1,139 | 235 | 478[30] | |||
See also
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- Elections in Japan
- House of Representatives of Japan
- List of Districts of the House of Representatives of Japan
References
- ^ a b "Japan PM 'calls August election'". BBC World News. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Facing Party Rift, Japan's Premier Calls Election". The New York Times. 2008-06-13.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Martin Fackler (2009-08-25). "After Decades, Japan Prepares for Likely New Ruling Party". The New York Times.
- ^ "DPJ Leader Hatoyama Says Domestic Demand Priority". Bloomberg. 2009-08-22.
- ^ "Hatoyama says DPJ will form coalition even if party performs well in election". Mainichi. 2009-08-22.
- ^ "Censure passed against Japan PM". BBC Online. 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- ^ "Japan PM humiliated by parliament". afp.google.com. 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- ^ "Boost for Japan's beleaguered PM". BBC News. 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- ^ "Japanese Party Chooses Aso as Leader". 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Japanese election brought forward". 18 September 2008.
- ^ "New Japanese cabinet takes shape as election looms". 23 September 2008.
- ^ "Japan PM ratings bounce puts snap election in doubt". 25 September 2008.
- ^ "Japan's governing party faces political extinction". The New York Times. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6687735.html
- ^ "Party rebels move on Japanese PM". BBC news website. 16 July 2009.
- ^ "Japanese Parliament Is Dissolved". Reuters. 2009-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
- ^ http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6719677.html
- ^ a b "Railing against the wrong enemy". The Economist. 2009-08-20.
- ^ "Japan election: unemployed turn on the government". The Daily Telegraph. 2009-08-27.
- ^ Hiroko Tabuchi (2009-08-03). "Opposition Woos Japan's Voters With Costly Vows". New York Times.
- ^ "Japan opposition may score landslide win: media". Reuters. 2009-08-21.
- ^ http://www.j-cast.com/2009/07/13045255.html
- ^ "Analysis: DPJ on pace to win 300 seats". Asahi Shimbun. 2009-09-20.
- ^ "Survey: DPJ poised to win over 300 seats". Yomiuri Shimbun. 2009-09-21.
- ^ "民主、圧勝の勢い 300議席超が当選圏 衆院選情勢調査" (in Japanese). Nikkei Shimbun. 2009-08-21.
- ^ "DPJ could win over 320 seats in Lower House race: Mainichi poll". Mainichi Shimbun. 2009-08-22.
- ^ "揺らぐ自民の牙城 15道県全敗か" (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. 2009-08-22.
- ^ 結党が解散後であるため。結党時に解散時議員だった者は4。
- ^ Seats for proportional representation are only for party rolls
- ^ A full House has 480 seats, so two were vacant at the time of dissolution.
