2000 Japanese general election

Template:Short description Template:Infobox electionTemplate:Sidebar with collapsible lists General elections were held in Japan on 25 June 2000 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remained the largest party in the House of Representatives but lost seats, along with its two coalition partners. Two cabinet members, Takashi Fukaya and Tokuichiro Tamazawa, lost their seats. The Democratic Party made major gains under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama.

Background

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke in April 2000 and was replaced by Yoshiro Mori. Although the term limit for the House of Representatives would have been reached in October 2000, Mori dissolved the House on June 2 in what became popularly known as the due to a controversial statement by Mori prior to the election, which preceded a slump in government approval ratings from 40% to 20%. The LDP government advocated continued public works spending while the opposition advocated less spending and more governmental reforms.

The Social Democratic Party left the coalition in 1998 and re-join the opposition after years of coalition with the ideologically contrasting LDP.

Meanwhile, the Komeito Party, a centrist party with roots from the Soka Gakkai based on the Nichiren Buddhist movement and despite almost decades of opposition against the LDP, shifted from centre towards conservatism. An electoral alliance between the once rivals of the Komeito and the LDP has been in effect since the Japanese General election in 2000. For the LDP, despite not being able to win an absolute majority of votes by itself in further elections (especially for the House of Councillors which the LDP lost majority since 1989), the Komeito party has been counted on since then to ensure a stable governing majority rule.

Results

File:42nd Japanese General Election Cartogram.svg

Constituency cartogram

The House of Representatives consisted of 480 members, 300 elected from single-member constituencies and 180 elected on a proportional basis from eleven multi-member constituencies known as Block constituencies.

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		LDP	DPJ	NKP	NCP	AI	SDP	LP	LL	Ind.
		style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |
Aichi	15	5	9		1
Akita	3	3
Aomori	4	3				1
Chiba	12	7	5
Ehime	4	4
Fukui	3	3
Fukuoka	11	8	2							1
Fukushima	5	3	1			1
Gifu	5	5
Gunma	5	5
Hiroshima	7	5				1				1
Hokkaido	13	7	6
Hyōgo	12	3	3	2	2		1			1
Ibaraki	7	5	1							1
Ishikawa	3	3
Iwate	4	1						3
Kagawa	3	2								1
Kagoshima	5	4							1
Kanagawa	17	9	6			1		1
Kōchi	3	3
Kumamoto	5	2	1		1					1
Kyoto	6	5	1
Mie	5	2	2							1
Miyagi	6	2	4
Miyazaki	3	3
Nagano	5	3	2
Nagasaki	4	2	1							1
Nara	4	4
Niigata	6	4	1							1
Ōita	4	2	1				1
Okayama	5	5
Okinawa	3	1		1			1
Osaka	19	8	5	4	1		1
Saga	3	3
Saitama	14	6	6			1				1
Shiga	3	2	1
Shimane	3	3
Shizuoka	9	4	4							1
Tochigi	5	4	1
Tokushima	3	2	1
Tokyo	25	8	13		1					3
Tottori	2	2
Toyama	3	3
Wakayama	3	1			1					1
Yamagata	4	3	1
Yamaguchi	4	3	1
Yamanashi	3	2	1
Total	300	177	80	7	7	5	4	4	1	15

By PR block

PR block	Total seats	Seats won
		LDP	DPJ	NKP	JCP	LP	SDP
		style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |	style="background:Template:Party color" |
Chūgoku	11	4	2	2	1	1	1
Hokkaido	8	2	3	1	1		1
Hokuriku–Shinetsu	11	4	3	1	1	1	1
Kinki (Kansai)	30	7	7	5	5	3	3
Kyushu	21	7	4	3	2	2	3
Northern Kanto	20	7	5	3	2	2	1
Shikoku	6	3	1	1	1
Southern Kanto	21	6	6	3	2	2	2
Tohoku	14	5	3	1	1	3	1
Tōkai	21	7	7	2	2	2	1
Tokyo	17	4	6	2	2	2	1
Total	180	56	47	24	20	18	15

Analysis

The further entrenchment of the 1955 System continued, with the Democratic Party of Japan replacing the New Frontier Party as the primary opposition to the LDP. The Social Democratic Party saw a brief resurgence following its near destruction in 1996, but the decline of the party would continue in the following election. The election set the groundwork for the system of politics that would lay how Japanese elections work until the collapse of the Democratic Party of Japan in the mid-2010s.