Japanese House of Councillors election, 1980

Japanese House of Councillors election, 1980

22 June 1980
126 (of the 252) seats in the House of Councillors
First party Second party   Leader Masayoshi Ōhira Ichio Asukata Party Liberal Democratic Socialist Last election 125 56 Seats won 135 47 Seat change +10 -9
President of the House of Councillors before election Ken Yasui Liberal Democratic Elected President of the House of Councillors Masatoshi Tokunaga Liberal Democratic

Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1980. On 16 May 1980, the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) brought no-confidence motion before the Diet relating to corruption issues, proposing more defense spending and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives 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 both the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives were called in June 1980. In the elections of both the houses the LDP gained a perfect majority.

Results

Party	National seats	Prefecture seats	Total seats 1980	Total
Liberal Democratic Party	21	48	69	135
Japan Socialist Party	9	13	22	47
Komeito	9	3	12	26
Communist Party	4	3	7	12
Democratic Socialist Party	4	2	6	12
Others	1	1	2	20
Independents	3	5	8
Total	50	76	126

References

• About Japan Series (1999), Changing Japanese Politics, No. 24, Tokyo: Foreign Press Center.
• Mahendra Prakash (2004), Coalition Experience in Japanese Politics: 1993-2003, New Delhi: JNU[1].
• http://www.binghamton.edu/cdp/era/elections/jpn80par.html