ELECTIONS & THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

GROUP 5

HISTORY & ORGANIZATION

• July 1st 1890 : The first general election established with the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution the previous year.

• June 1988: 38 general elections (23 under the Meiji Constitution and 15 under the present Constitution).

• After World War II: Regular Elections for the upper house have been held 14 times since the House of Councilors

• 1900: Secret Balloting

• Elections were held every three years beginning in June 1950 for half the members, whose terms of office is six years.

• National elections have been held at the average intervals of less than a year and a half.

• Local elections held once every for years and the Japanese have ample opportunity to participate in government through the electoral process.

CONSTITUTION & THE PUBLIC OFFICE ELECTION LAW

•Democratic principles of universal• Equal suffrage and

direct• Secret Balloting

REQUIREMENTS

• The right to vote is guaranteed to every Japanese national aged 20 years or over (Public Office Election Law, article 9).

• Eligibility to run for Diet is limited only a minimum age of 25 years for the House of Representatives and 30 years for the House of Councilors (article 10).

• People under suspended sentences for crimes or those judged in competent or serving a sentence of imprisonment lose the right to vote (article 11).

THE FIRST HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES MEMBERS ELECTION LAW• 1889-1900: males at least 25 years of age, paid

annual direct state taxes of ¥15 or more, giving only 450,000 people, or 1.1% of the population.

• 1900: 　 paid annual direct state taxes of ¥10 or more, 980,000 people, or 2.2% of the population.

• 1919: paid annual direct state taxes of ¥3 or more, 3.1 million people, or 5.5% of the population.

• 1925: eligible voter to 12.4 million men, or 20.1% of the nation’s population.

• 1945: women were first granted the right to vote.

PROBLEMS IN THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM• Medium Sized Ballot

o Lesser candidates to represent a district.• Difficulty in Representation of Districts

o Multiple districts have scarce and largely populated areas and there is debate on how to divide it fairly.

• Open – List Proportional Representation Systemo Voters vote for a one candidate from a political

party but the vote will count for the political party, too.

• According to the law, a general election conducted within 40 days of lower house dissolution

• An election for the other houses held within 30 days of the expiry of its members terms.

• For the lower house elections, the election campaign period is 15 days; and 18 days for upper house elections.

• Election campaigns are prohibited before the period; yet the activity to “test the waters” and campaign preparations are permitted.

CANDIDATES & CAMPAIGNING

• On the day set for the notification of candidacy, the candidates collecting the required documents along with their prefecture’s Election Administration Commission. Then receiving the certification to conduct the campaign.

• According to Public Office Election Law; campaigns being strictly regulated with the goal of promoting fairness and controlling campaign expenditures.

• April 1946 General Election recording the largest election involving 2.770 candidates ran for office. After the consolidation of the conservative and progressive forces into two major parties (1955) the number dropped below 1000; while in the July 1986 election it fell to 836.

• Upper house election also recorded the same thing for upper house elections; from 563 in June 1950 election to 285 in the June 1980 election.

• The trends happened due to the five or six parties have come to dominate the political scene; and these parties—excluded the Japan Commuist Party—have become more selective for their candidates.

• Central party headquarters plays a decisive role in the election process through the endorsement of official candidates and the raising and allocation of campaign fund and support. The candidates ranking’s list in the party determined their success and failure.

• Increasingly dominant role of factions in LDP and Japan’s opposition parties; led to the increasing numbers of candidates ran for the office in single constituency.

• Factions helped the candidates to boost up their support and providing assistance and funds.

• Coopeartion among opposition parties becoming a strategy to minimize LDP’s grip over power (Upper house election 1971)

The Result:1-2 days but announced officially by the Election

Administration Commission 1 WEEK after the voting day.

Influence:• Familial; candidates with previous family member(s)

poses political involvement are likely to succeed.

• Gender; female candidates are less likely to be chosen a only few are successful.

• Political Party; the political party the candidate represents affects the chance of being elected.

ELECTION RESULTS

• Since the 1955 elections, the LDP have repeatedly dominate the elections with the average percentage of 40% of the candidates being elected. The JSP following it with the average percentage of 20%.

• For about six times elections, the NLC and USDP had been inactive in the elections, with the NLC securing more seats than the USDP in the following elections.

RESULTS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTIONS SINCE THE 1955 “SETUP”

• Other minor parties have been unable to make any significant achievement in the elections, managing only to secure a small number of seats for their candidates (1 for the 1958 and 1960 elections). Independent figure had managed to secure more seats in the House of Representatives than minor parties do.

• Since 1963 elections, the other minor parties did not manage to secure any seats for its candidates, managing to secure only 2 seats for the 1972 elections, and none for the rest of the elections (1986)

LDP: The dominating party since 1956 with 71/127 seats in 1959. JSP: 2nd leading party since 1956 but keeps declining from years

to years. To only 20/126 seats in 1986 from 49/127 in 1956. Kometho: only involved in 1962 and in 3rd position with 9/127

seats. DSP: only took part in 1962 with 4/127 seats. JCP: the 3rd party involved in 1956 with 2/127 seats. NLC: participated in 1977 with 3/126 seats. USDP: started in 1977 with 1/126 seats. Other: started 1956, hold very limited seats with 6/127 seats at

the first election. Independent: since 1956 but limited seats with only 9/127 seats.

HOUSE OF COUNCILLORS ELECTIONS SINCE THE 1955 “SETUP”

• Biggest problem in Japanese election: the vast sums of money they absorb.

• July 1968 election: average individual expenditure ceiling ¥15.6 million.

• The average ceiling for the House of Councilors prefectural-constituency elections ¥23.6 million.

• It is common for candidates to employ more campaign workers and paying them more than regulations allowed.

ELECTION COSTS

• Individual support groups: Koenkai• Many LDP lower house members have

Koenkai based in their constituencies• These support groups help handle the

activities necessary to ensure votes in case of a general election.

• For members of the lower house, this sort of campaigning occurs nonstop.

SUPPORT GROUPS

• Generally needed for the election, campaign, or routine activity of the political entities.

• It could come from corporations, business professional, agricultural associations, organized labor, or fund-raiser.

• The Political Funds Control Law limit the amount of donations that a company/individual/organization can gave to the political entities.

• As the results, the political entities turned increasingly to the fund-raiser.

• To some extent, political parties’ massive dependence towards certain corporations or institutions still widely viewed as a basic flaw of Japan’s political setup.

POLITICAL FUNDS

With individual support groups and the difference of campaign budgets in different district/prefectures, it disables parties to have fair competition without the same budget decided by the government. Furthermore individual support groups provides more evidence of unfair campaigning as they provide more workforce to buy their votes (ex: condolence payments in funerals represents good ethics to ensure votes.

CONCLUSION