1983 Japanese general election

18 December 1983

All 511 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan
256 seats needed for a majority
Turnout67.9% (Decrease6.6%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
CGP
Leader Yasuhiro Nakasone Masashi Ishibashi Yoshikatsu Takeiri
Party Liberal Democratic Socialist Kōmeitō
Leader since 25 November 1982 7 September 1983 13 February 1967
Last election 47.88%, 284 seats 19.31%, 107 seats 9.03%, 33 seats
Seats won 250 112 58
Seat change Decrease34 Increase5 Increase25
Popular vote 25,982,785 11,065,082 5,745,751
Percentage 45.76% 19.49% 10.12%
Swing Decrease2.12pp Increase0.18pp Increase1.09pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
DSP
NLC
Leader Sasaki Ryōsaku Tetsuzo Fuwa Seiichi Tagawa
Party Democratic Socialist Communist New Liberal Club
Leader since 31 July 1982 February 1979
Last election 6.60%, 32 seats 9.83%, 29 seats 2.99%, 12 seats
Seats won 38 26 8
Seat change Increase6 Decrease3 Decrease4
Popular vote 4,129,907 5,302,485 1,341,584
Percentage 7.27% 9.34% 2.36%
Swing Increase0.67pp Decrease0.49pp Decrease0.63pp

  Seventh party
 
SDF
Leader Hideo Den
Party Socialist Democratic
Leader since 1978
Last election 0.68%, 3 seats
Seats won 3
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 381,045
Percentage 0.63%
Swing Decrease0.05pp


Prime Minister before election

Yasuhiro Nakasone
Liberal Democratic

Prime Minister after election

Yasuhiro Nakasone
Liberal Democratic

General elections were held in Japan on 18 December 1983 to elect the 511 members of the House of Representatives. The voter turnout was 67.94%, the lowest it had ever been in post-war history up to that point, and a low which would not be surpassed until ten years later.

Contrary to pre-election polls by national daily papers which projected a comfortable majority for the LDP, the latter party lost 34 seats compared to the previous election, falling six seats short of the 256 needed for majority control. As a result, the major conservative party was forced to form a majority coalition government for the first time since 1948.[1] In order to do so, the LDP formed a coalition with the New Liberal Club, a move which JSP leader Masashi Ishibashi called a "betrayal of the electorate."[2]

It is likely that the LDP's losses resulted in great part due to running too many candidates and thus falling prey to the spoiler effect. The biggest winner among the opposition was Kōmeitō, which saw an increase in terms of both seats as well as the popular vote that exceeded all of the other parties. This election also saw considerable tactical voting cooperation between the Japan Socialist Party, Komeito, Socialist Democratic Federation, and Democratic Socialist Party in various combinations, which resulted in varying levels of success for the opposition, but primarily for Komeito's outcome.[1]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Democratic Party25,982,78545.76250–34
Japan Socialist Party11,065,08319.49112+5
Kōmeitō5,745,75110.1258+25
Japanese Communist Party5,302,4859.3426–3
Democratic Socialist Party4,129,9087.2738+6
New Liberal Club1,341,5842.368–4
Socialist Democratic Federation381,0450.6730
Other parties62,3240.110
Independents2,768,7364.8816+5
Total56,779,701100.005110
Valid votes56,779,70199.19
Invalid/blank votes461,1280.81
Total votes57,240,829100.00
Registered voters/turnout84,252,60867.94
Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan, National Diet

By prefecture

Prefecture Total
seats
Seats won
LDP JSP Kōmeitō DSP JCP NLC SDF Ind.
Aichi 22 9 4 2 4 3
Akita 8 4 3 1
Aomori 7 5 1 1
Chiba 16 9 3 3 1
Ehime 9 6 3
Fukui 4 2 1 1
Fukuoka 19 8 4 3 2 2
Fukushima 12 7 3 1 1
Gifu 9 5 2 1 1
Gunma 10 6 3 1
Hiroshima 12 7 2 2 1
Hokkaido 22 8 9 1 1 3
Hyōgo 20 6 5 4 3 2
Ibaraki 12 6 3 1 1 1
Ishikawa 6 5 1
Iwate 8 6 1 1
Kagawa 6 5 1
Kagoshima 11 8 3
Kanagawa 19 3 5 4 4 3
Kōchi 5 2 1 1 1
Kumamoto 10 7 2 1
Kyoto 10 4 1 2 2 1
Mie 9 5 2 1 1
Miyagi 9 6 2 1
Miyazaki 6 3 2 1
Nagano 13 8 3 1 1
Nagasaki 9 5 2 1 1
Nara 5 1 1 1 1 1
Niigata 15 10 4 1
Ōita 7 3 2 1 1
Okayama 10 5 2 2 1
Okinawa 5 2 1 1 1
Osaka 26 6 5 7 3 4 1
Saga 5 4 1
Saitama 15 7 2 3 1 1 1
Shiga 5 2 1 1 1
Shimane 5 3 1 1
Shizuoka 14 6 3 1 2 2
Tochigi 10 5 3 1 1
Tokushima 5 3 1 1
Tokyo 43 14 6 11 3 6 2 1
Tottori 4 3 1
Toyama 6 4 2
Wakayama 6 3 1 1 1
Yamagata 8 5 2 1
Yamaguchi 9 6 2 1
Yamanashi 5 3 2
Total 511 250 112 58 38 26 8 3 16

References

  1. 1 2 Baerwald, Hans H. (1984). "Japan's December 1983 House of Representatives Election: The Return of Coalition Politics". Asian Survey. 24 (3): 265–278. doi:10.2307/2644066. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2644066.
  2. "ELECCIONS". Dossier-CIDOB (2): 6–8. 1983. ISSN 1132-6093. JSTOR 40591549.
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