NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Japan upper house election, 2004

Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. The House of Councillors consists of 247 members who serve six-year terms. Approximately half the members are elected every three years. At these elections 121 members were elected. Of these 73 were elected from the 47 prefectural districts and 48 were elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation.

Parties

JMt (Jiyu Minshu-to) Liberal Democrat Party (conservative)
Mt (Minshu-to) Democrat Party (social-democratic/liberal)
Kt (Komei-to) New Clean Government Party (Komeito) (theocratic Buddhist, conservative)
NKt (Nihon Kyosan-to) Japanese Communist Party (communist)
SMt (Shakai Minshu-to) Social Democrat Party (social-democratic)

Results

 Summary of seats ========================================================================== Party Prefectural Proportional From 2001 Total -------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Clean Government Party 3 8 13 24 +1 Democrat Party 31 19 29 79 +12 Japanese Communist Party - 4 5 9 -11 Liberal Democrat Party 34 15 65 114 -1 Social Democrat Party - 2 6 8 0 Others 5 - 8 12 +4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 73 48 126 247 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Proportional seats ========================================================================== Party Votes % Seats -------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Clean Government Party 8,621,267 15.4 8 +1 Democrat Party 21,138,032 37.8 19 +5 Japanese Communist Party 4,363,107 07.8 4 -4 Liberal Democrat Party 16,797,684 30.0 15 -2 Social Democrat Party 2,990,667 05.2 2 Others 2,022,134 03.6 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 55,932,891 48 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive (http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/j/japan/)

In the elections, the oppositional Democrat Party won a majority of the seats contested in the election, sweeping the liberal urban areas. The Liberal Democrat Party, the ruling party, failed to win in its strongholds and yet again, received most of its support from the agrarian areas. The New Clean Government Party (New Komeito) did well, reaching its goals, as did the Social Democrat Party. The Japanese Communist Party did not reach its goals at all, while Non-partisans won the rest of the seats. The Liberal League and Midori no kaigi failed to win any seats.

Categories: Elections in Japan

Results from FactBites:

Japan: Map, History and Much More from Answers.com (10137 words)
	Japan has also become a global leader in financial services, with some of the world's largest banks, but for many years after the collapse of the stock and real estate markets in the early 1990s many of Japan's banks were burdened with high numbers of nonperforming loans.
	The diet is composed of the house of representatives, a body of 480 members elected for terms of four years, approximately three fifths of which are chosen by single-seat constituencies and the rest proportionally; and the house of councilors, having 252 members elected for terms of six years.
	In the general election of 1989, the LDP lost in the upper house of the parliament for the first time in 35 years; nonetheless, LDP president Toshiki Kaifu became prime minister later that year.

Asia Times Online - The trusted news source for information on Japan (2357 words)
	For example, Japan's fertility rate in 2003 fell to a record low of 1.29 children per woman, according to government statistics released on June 10.
	So close to the election, Japanese voters, especially the non-affiliates, are not rallying behind the Koizumi administration as they did in the last Upper House election three years ago - just three months after Koizumi took the office at the pinnacle of his popularity.
	For sure, this Upper House election will be a confidence vote by the Japanese public not only over what the Koizumi administration has done in terms of his imperfectly implemented reform agenda since he took office in April 2001, but also over his political mode of humanitarianism.

More results at FactBites »

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