IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: Japan

Japan

126,854,745	19
Population (as of Feb. 8, 2019)	Elections in our database
105,019,203	58.42%
Registered Voters (as of None)	Average Turnout

Name	Official Name	Type
Japanese House of Representatives	Shugiin	Lower House
Japanese House of Councillors	Sangiin	Upper House

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: Emperor Naruhito *
Head of Government: Prime Minister Fumido KISHIDA
Assembly: Japan has a bicameral Diet (Kokkai) consisting of the House of Councillors (Sangiin) with 242 seats and the House of Representatives (Shugiin) with 480 seats.

* Japan's emperor serves as a symbolic figurehead of the nation's past. Unlike other monarchies, the emperor of Japan is not the nominal head of state. Japan's Constitution, written in 1947, demoted the emperor to a “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people,” stripping the emperor of all “powers related to government.”

Description of electoral system:

Prime Minister is appointed by parliament.
In the House of Councillors (Sangiin), 96 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 6-year terms and 146 members are elected by single non-transferable vote to serve 6-year terms*. In the House of Representatives (Shugiin), 300 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 180 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

* Terms are staggered with one half of each tier elected every election. In the ordinal tier, there is one nationwide district. In the nominal tier, constituencies correspond to prefectural or metropolitan boundaries. There are 47 constituencies with magnitudes ranging from 2 and 10 seats. Because half of all members are up for reelection every cycle, 29 members run in single-seat districts (their fellow district representative is not running) and 44 members run in 18 multi-member districts consisting of anywhere between 2 and 5 seats. In order to secure a seat, a candidate must obtain enough votes that are equal to or greater than one-sixth of the total number of valid votes divided by the number of contested seats in the district.

** In the proportional representation tier, there are 11 multi-member districts consisting of anywhere between 6 and 29 seats. Candidacy in both tiers is permitted, however, candidates are only allowed to run in the proportional representation block in which their single-seat constituency is located. Candidates running in single-member districts must secure one-sixth of all votes to win a seat.

IFES Resources:

Does IFES have a presence in Japan: No

Election Judgements: Yes, 5

Elections

Election For	Date	Votes	Registered Voters	Turn Out
Japanese House of Representatives	1996-10-20	58,262,930	97,680,719	59.65
Japanese House of Councillors	1998-07-12	58,280,396	99,048,700	58.84
Japanese House of Representatives	2000-06-25	62,764,239	100,433,798	62.49
Japanese House of Councillors	2001-07-29	57,138,887	101,236,029	56.44
Japanese House of Representatives	2001-07-29	61,196,418	102,232,944	59.86
Japanese House of Representatives	2003-11-09	61,196,418	102,232,944	59.86
Japanese House of Councillors	2004-07-11	57,990,757	102,507,526	56.57
Japanese House of Representatives	2005-09-11	69,532,186	103,067,966	67.46
Japanese House of Councillors	2007-07-29	60,813,927	103,710,035	58.64
Japanese House of Representatives	2009-08-30	72,003,538	103,949,442	69.27
Japanese House of Councillors	2010-07-11	60,255,670	104,029,135	57.92
Japanese House of Representatives	2012-12-16	61,669,473	103,959,866	59.32
Japanese House of Councillors	2013-07-21	54,798,927	104,152,590	52.61
Japanese House of Representatives	2014-12-14	54,743,087	103,962,784	52.66
Japanese House of Councillors	2016-07-10	-	-	-
Japanese House of Representatives	2017-10-22	56,947,831	106,091,229	53.68
Japanese House of Councillors	2019-07-21	-	-	-
Japanese House of Representatives	2021-10-22	58,900,259	105,622,759	55.76
Japanese House of Councillors	2022-07-10	54,653,462	105,019,203	52.04

Voter Turnout

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