Japanese House of Councillors election, 1998

Japanese House of Councillors election, 1998

12 July 1998

126 (76 SNTV, 50 PR) of the 252 seats in the House of Councillors   First party Second party   Leader Ryutaro Hashimoto Naoto Kan Party Liberal Democratic Democratic Last election 111 — Seats won 103 47 Seat change -8 +47 Popular vote 17,033,851 (partial result for 76 seats) 9,063,939 (partial result for 76 seats) Percentage 30.45% (partial result for 76 seats) 16.20% (partial result for 76 seats)

President of the House of Councillors before election Juro Saito Liberal Democratic Elected President of the House of Councillors Juro Saito Liberal Democratic

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Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan on July 12, 1998.

The LDP under Ryūtarō Hashimoto had restored single-party government in 1996 and was now aiming to also regain clear control of the House of Councillors where it was several seats short of a majority. Instead, it lost 13 seats in the election giving the opposition clear control. Prime minister Hashimoto resigned. Keizō Obuchi was elected LDP president on July 24, defeating Seiroku Kajiyama and Junichirō Koizumi.

On July 30, 1998, Obuchi was designated as prime minister by the Diet against the vote of the House of Councillors where DPJ president Naoto Kan beat Obuchi by 142 to 103 votes. Obuchi entered coalition negotiations in late 1998. In January 1999, the LDP entered a ruling coalition with Ichirō Ozawa's Liberal Party, bringing the government within few seats of a majority; in October 1999, New Komeito also entered the coalition, ending the divided Diet.

Results

Note that because of the dissolution of the Socialist Party in 1996 (→Social Democratic Party, New Socialist Party, Democratic Party), the Democratic Socialist Party and the Kōmeitō in 1994, the creation and subsequent dissolution of the New Frontier Party, the (re-)establishment of the two "New" Kōmeitō predecessors and several other party mergers, creations and dissolutions in the 1990s, many of the incumbent Councilors in 1998 belonged to a different party than the ones they were elected for in 1992.

Complete list of prefectural races

Elected candidates in bold

Compiled from JANJAN's "The Senkyo"^[1] and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications official results.^[2]

Notes:

• All incumbents not running for re-election in their prefectural electoral district are counted as retirements even if they ran in the nationwide proportional representation.
• In a multi-member district, there is no difference between Councillors elected with the highest and lower vote shares. Yet, "top tōsen", i.e. being elected with the highest vote, is considered a special achievement and thus noted where changed from the previous election for the same class of Councillors (1992). (due to the many party realignments in the 1990s only where changed from LDP to opposition or vice versa)
• In the results column, independents are counted towards the party they joined in the first Diet sessions after the election.

Party abbreviations used:

• Ruling party
  • LDP Jiyūminshutō Liberal Democratic Party
• Opposition
  • DPJ Minshutō, "Democratic Party", Democratic Party of Japan
  • JCP Nihon Kyōsantō, Japanese Communist Party
  • Kōmei Kōmei, "Justice" (re-established Kōmeitō in November 1998 together with NFP successor Shintō Heiwa ("New Peace Party"))
  • SDP Shakaiminshutō, Social Democratic Party
  • LP Jiyūtō, Liberal Party
  • NSP Shin-Shakaitō, New Socialist Party
  • NPH Shintō Sakigake, New Party Harbinger
  • LL Jiyū Rengō, Liberal League
  • IA Mushozoku no Kai, "Assembly of Independents", Independents (formed only in November 1998; founding members noted in the results column)
• I Independent
• Minor parties: YLP "Youth Liberal Party", Ishin Ishin Seitō Shinpū, WP Women's Party, SPP "Sports and Peace Party"

References

http://www.binghamton.edu/cdp/era/elections/jpn98par.html

1. ↑ http://www.senkyo.janjan.jp/election/1998/99/00002001.html
2. ↑ http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/data/index.html

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