2000 Japanese general election
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Sidebar". 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.[1]
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 Script error: No such module "Nihongo". 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.[2]
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.
Contesting parties
| Party | Leader | Ideology | Seats | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 election | At dissolution | |||||
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū-MinshutōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Yoshirō Mori | Conservatism (Japanese) Japanese nationalism |
Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Government |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) MinshutōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Yukio Hatoyama | Liberalism | Template:Composition barTemplate:Efn | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Komeito KōmeitōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Takenori Kanzaki | Buddhist democracy | Did not exist | Template:Composition bar | Government |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsan-tōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Tetsuzo Fuwa | Communism | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Liberal Party Jiyū-tōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Ichirō Ozawa | Liberalism Neoliberalism |
Did not exist | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Conservative Party HoshutōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Chikage Oogi | Conservatism | Did not exist | Template:Composition bar | Government |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shamin-tōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Takako Doi | Social democracy | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Assembly of Independents Mushozoku no KaiScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Shiina Motō | Did not exist | Template:Composition bar | Opposition | |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Sakigake SakigakeScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Masayoshi Takemura | Liberalism Reformism |
Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Liberal League (LL) Jiyū RengōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Torao Tokuda | Classical liberalism | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Opposition |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Independents | — | Template:Composition bar | Template:Composition bar | Mixed | |
| Defunct since last election | ||||||
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | New Frontier Party (NFP) ShinshintōScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Ichirō Ozawa | Neoconservatism (Japanese) Neoliberalism |
Template:Composition bar | Split | |
| bgcolor=Template:Party color| | Democratic Reform Party (DRP) MinkairenScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Sasano Teiko | Social democracy | Template:Composition bar | Merged into DPJ | |
Results
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.
References
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Notes
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