1990 Japanese general election

none Japan 1870 parliamentary 1986 Japanese general election 1986 18 February 1990 1993 Japanese general election 1993 All 512 seats in the House of Representatives 257 73.31% ( 1.89pp) 130x130px Toshiki Kaifu 19890810 (cropped).jpg Toshiki Kaifu Liberal Democratic Party (Japan, pre-2017) 51.06%, 306 seatsLiberal Democratic Party and New Liberal Club 275 31 30,315,417 46.14% 3.28pp Takako Doi in Tokyo congressist election 2.jpg Takako Doi Japan Socialist Party 17.23%, 85 seats 136 51 16,025,473 24.35% 7.12pp Kōshirō_Ishida_Hosokawa_Cabinet_19930809_kaidan2.jpg Koshiro Ishida Kōmeitō (1962–1998) 9.43%, 56 seats 45 11 5,242,675 7.98% 1.45pp Tetuzo Fuwa interview.png Tetsuzo Fuwa Japanese Communist Party 8.79%, 26 seats 16 10 5,226,987 7.96% 0.83pp Eiichi Nagasue 197102.jpg Eiichi Nagasue ja 永末英一 Democratic Socialist Party (Japan) 6.44%, 26 seats 14 12 3,178,949 4.84% 1.60pp Satsuki Eda 1993 (cropped).jpg Satsuki Eda Socialist Democratic Federation (Japan) 0.83%, 4 seats 4 566,957 0.86% 0.03pp Seiichi Tagawa Progressive Party (Japan, 1987) ja 進歩党 (日本 1987-1993) Progressive – 1 New 281,793 0.43% New 400px Elected MPs and the leading party by vote share in each multimember district 400px Districts where the LDP (green) or opposition (blue) won most seats; teal for ties Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) Toshiki Kaifu Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) General elections were held in Japan on 18 February 1990 to elect the 512 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet.Elections held in 1990 Inter-Parliamentary Union Background As with the previous House of Councillors election, the "four-point set of evils" in the minds of voters were the controversial consumption tax, the Recruit scandal, agricultural import liberalisation, and former Prime Minister Sōsuke Uno's sex scandal. Political commentators excitedly speculated whether a "Great Reversal" would finally come about in which the LDP loses its majority in the House of Representatives, as the prior 1989 election saw the LDP lose its long-held majority in the House of Councillors.Donnelly Michael W. 1990 No Great Reversal in Japan: Elections for the House of Representatives in 1990 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2759521 Pacific Affairs 63 3 303–320 10.2307/2759521 2759521 subscription Results File:Japan House of Representatives 1990.svg Liberal Democratic Party 30315417 275 −31 Japan Socialist Party 16025473 136 +51 Kōmeitō 5242675 45 −11 Japanese Communist Party 5226987 16 −10 Democratic Socialist Party 3178949 14 −12 Socialist Democratic Federation 566957 4 0 Progressive Party (Japan, 1987) ja 進歩党 (日本 1987-1993) Progressive Party 281793 1 New #E5FF00 Other parties 58536 0 – Independents 4807524 21 +12 0 511595 90322908 IPU Seats won per district 350px LDP 350px JSP 350px Kōmeitō 350px JCP 350px DSP (orange) & SDF (crimson) 350px Independent/Minor parties By prefecture PrefectureTotalseatsSeats wonLDPJSPKōmeitōJCPDSPSDFPPInd.Aichi22116221Akita7421Aomori752Chiba181251Ehime963Fukui431Fukuoka1984421Fukushima12651Gifu9621Gunma10631Hiroshima12831Hokkaido231271111Hyōgo1910423Ibaraki12831Ishikawa541Iwate8431Kagawa642Kagoshima10541Kanagawa209641Kōchi52111Kumamoto106211Kyoto1042211Mie95211Miyagi963Miyazaki6321Nagano13841Nagasaki95211Nara52111Niigata13841Ōita7421Okayama1042211Okinawa52111Osaka27857511Saga5311Saitama1785211Shiga5311Shimane5311Shizuoka141031Tochigi10631Tokushima5221Tokyo44181183112Tottori422Toyama642Wakayama6411Yamagata7511Yamaguchi9621Yamanashi532Total5122751364516144121 Analysis Although the LDP lost a net total of 25 seats, it still held onto its majority in the House of Representatives with a margin of 19 seats. This was due to the inequitable districting practices in Japan at the time, as individual voters in rural districts tend to both favour the LDP and also be disproportionately influential. However, the LDP did see losses among rural voters in the 1989 elections, and as a result the party pivoted away from their commitment to liberal import policies and back into a more protectionist rhetoric, declaring that "not one grain of foreign rice will be imported into Japan." The LDP also acquiesced by revising the consumption tax law to allow for exceptions; moreover, public resistance to the new tax had slightly decreased since the 1989 Upper House election. Although party leadership tends to have only minor influence on Japanese elections, positive cabinet approval ratings for the LDP bounced back from Noboru Takeshita's low of 10% to the reform-minded Toshiki Kaifu's 33%. In addition, the LDP also made sure to field an ample amount of candidates and to informally support independents, who increased by 12 in this election. The clear winner in the elections was the Japan Socialist Party, whose number of seats rose by 51 and whose popular vote rose by 7.12% from the last election. This was the JSP's strongest performance in a general election since 1967, and left it as the only party to gain any seats. Meanwhile, the other three main opposition parties (Komeito, the JCP, and the DSP) lost 11, 10, and 12 seats respectively, and all of them also saw reductions in their popular vote. According to surveys, however, the shift in support for the JSP was more to do with the familiar Japanese tendency to cast protest votes against the LDP rather than expressions of support for all of the opposition's platform. Moreover, the JSP continued to suffer from factional infighting and a relative lack of fund-raising when compared to the LDP, and thus its fortunes would only wind up being in the short-term. Notes References Japan General Category:General elections in Japan General Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results