Japanese general election, 1996

Japanese general election, 1996

20 October 1996
All 500 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 251 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	59.65%
First party Second party   Leader Ryutaro Hashimoto Ichirō Ozawa Party Liberal Democratic New Frontier Leader since 1 October 1995 28 December 1995 Leader's seat Okayama-2nd Iwate-4th Last election 223 seats, 36.6% 55 seats, 10.1% Seats before 211 160 Seats won 239 156 Seat change 28 4 Popular vote 21,836,091 (district) 18,205,955 (block) 15,812,320 (district) 15,580,053 (block) Percentage 38.6% (district) 32.7% (block) 27.9% (district) 28.0% (block)
Prime Minister before election Ryutaro Hashimoto Liberal Democratic Prime Minister-designate Ryutaro Hashimoto Liberal Democratic

A general election took place in Japan on October 20, 1996. Incumbent Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Party Sakigake and the Social Democratic Party won the election.

This is the first election under new elections rules established in 1993 with single non-transferable vote, single-member districts, and some seats being distributed according to proportional representation. Before this election, each district was represented by multiple members, sometimes from the same party, causing intra-party competition. Under the new rules, each district has only one representative now representing a wide range of interests for his or her district. A separate party-list was introduced for voters to choose their favored party (in addition to votes for individual candidates) as a way to more accurately approximate the seats in the House of Representatives of Japan to the actual party votes in an effort to achieve more proportional representation.

With only a single member in each district, this change allows for more district-wide benefits. This is opposed to the old multi-member districts where each representative appeals to either policy or geographic-based benefits to narrow interests in their constituencies, who in turn help their member's campaign in their reelection efforts.

Results

The coalition government won a narrow majority in the election. The Social Democratic Party and the New Party Sakigake lost most of its seats in the House of Representatives due to the formation of coalition with the LDP. The turnout of the election was 59.65%.

 Summary of the 18 July 1996 Japanese House of Representatives election results

Alliances and parties		Local constituency vote			PR block vote			Total seats	+/−
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)	21,836,096	38.63%	169	18,205,955	32.76%	70	239	28
	Social Democratic Party (SDP)	1,240,649	2.19%	4	3,547,240	6.38%	11	15	15
	New Party Harbinger (NPH)	727,644	1.29%	2	582,093	1.05%	0	2	7
	Ruling coalition	23,804,389	42.11%	175	22,335,288	40.19%	81	256	6
	New Frontier Party (NFP)	15,812,326	27.97%	96	15,580,053	28.04%	60	156	4
	Democratic Party (DPJ)	6,001,666	10.62%	17	8,949,190	16.10%	35	52	0
	Japan Communist Party (JCP)	7,096,766	12.55%	2	7,268,743	13.08%	24	26	11
	Democratic Reform League	149,357	0.26%	1	18,884	0.03%	0	1	1
	Others	1,155,108	2.04%	0	1,417,077	2.55%	0	0	4
	Opposition parties	30,215,223	53.45%	116	33,233,907	59.81%	119	235	2
	Independents	2,508,810	4.44%	9	–			9	1
Totals		56,528,422	100.00%	300	55,569,195	100.00%	200	500	7 (electoral reform: -11 18 vacant seats)
Turnout		59.65%			59.62%			–

Party	Single-member constituencies	Proportional representation	Total
Liberal Democrat	169	70	239 (211)
New Frontiers	96	60	156 (160)
Democrat	17	35	52
Japanese Communist	2	24	26 (15)
Social Democrat	4	11	15 (30)
New Party Sakigake	2	0	2 (9)
Democratic Reformers	1	0	1 (2)
Independent	9	0	9 (10)

Numbers in parentheses indicate seats held before the election.

Local constituency vote
LDP			38.63%
NFP			27.97%
JCP			12.55%
DPJ			10.62%
SDP			2.19%
NPH			1.29%
Independents			4.44%
Others			2.31%

PR block vote
LDP			32.76%
NFP			28.04%
DPJ			16.10%
JCP			13.08%
SDP			6.38%
NPH			1.05%
Others			2.58%

Parliament seats
LDP			47.80%
NFP			31.20%
DPJ			10.40%
JCP			5.20%
SDP			3.00%
NPH			0.40%
Independents			1.80%
Others			0.20%