JAPAN

ELECTIONS IN 2004

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Chamber:

Sangiin

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

11 July 2004

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for one-half of the seats in the House of Councillors on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.

Background and outcome of elections:

The 11 July 2004 elections were held to renew half of the House of
Councillors, the upper house of Parliament. Of the 121 seats, 73 were filled using a simple majority system in geographical constituencies, while 48 were determined using a proportional representation system based on a single constituency covering the whole country.

Opinion polls had shown that Mr. Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could lose several seats in the upper house as his coalition was under criticism for its changes to the pension systems and for deploying Japanese troops to Iraq. Nevertheless, the election would not affect control of Parliament because the ruling coalition had a majority in the lower house.

During the electoral campaign, Prime Minister Koizumi talked about his conservative administration's economic policies and said that, under the leadership of his Liberal Democratic Party, the world's second largest economy had recovered to a degree better than had been forecast. On the other hand, opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) president, Mr. Katsuya Okada, appealed to voters for a change in leadership. The opposition was looking for gains in the House of Councillors, appealing to voters angry about higher premiums and benefits cuts in the pension system and public opposition to Japan's military deployment in Iraq.

Final results showed that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had won 49 seats, one fewer than its 50 up for re-election, while New Komeito gained one seat to take it to 11. This gave the ruling coalition 139 of the 242 seats in the upper house. The DPJ increased its representation, winning 50 seats, up from the 38 it previously held.

On 30 July 2004, the House of Councillors elected Ms. Chikage Oogi as its President. It is the first time a woman is holding the post in the upper house in Japan.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (11 July 2004): Election results
Number of registered electors		102'588'411
Voters		58'001'825 (56.54%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers		2'069'339
Valid votes		55'932'486
The numbers appearing immediately above reflect the outcome of the proportional representation vote (see the explanation above). As regards the majority vote, the outcome was as follows: Number of registered electors: 102,507,526 Voters: 57,989,260 (56.57%) Blank or invalid ballot papers: 1,880,408 Valid votes: 56,108,852



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%	Proportion	Majority
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)				30.03	35.09
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)				37.79	39.09
New Komeito				15.41	3.85
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)				7.80	9.84
Others				3.62	10.38
Social Democratic Party (SDP)				5.35	1.75


Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group	Total	Seats 2004	Majority	Proportional
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)	115	49	34	15
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)	82	50	31	19
New Komeito	24	11	3	8
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)	9	4	0	4
Others	7	5	5	0
Social Democratic Party (SDP)	5	2	0	2

Comments:

Sources:
- Asahi.com
- House of Councillors (03.03.2005)

Former foreign minister Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi was elected at the by-election held on 23 October 2005, bringing the total number of women to 34.

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

209

Women:

Percent of women:

13.64

Distribution of seats according to age:


31 to 40 years	19
41 to 50 years	51
51 to 60 years	81
61 to 70 years	70
Over 70 years	21

Distribution of seats according to profession:

National Government Officials		64
Local Government Officials		56
Interest Group Officers		44
Others		19
Press/Media Personalities		15
Member's Secretaries		12
Educators		11
Legal professions		9
Medical professions		8
Athletes		4

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