1980 Japanese House of Councillors election

1980 Japanese House of Councillors election

← 1977 22 June 1980 1983 →

127 of the 252 seats in the House of Councillors
127 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Masayoshi Ōhira[a] Ichio Asukata Yoshikatsu Takeiri
Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō
Last election 124 seats, 35.8% 56 seats, 17.3% 28 seats, 14.2%
Seats after 135 47 26
Seat change Increase11 Decrease9 Decrease2
Popular vote 23,778,190 7,341,828 6,669,387
Percentage 42.5% 13.1% 11.9%
Swing Increase6.7% Decrease4.2% Decrease2.3%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Kenji Miyamoto Kasuga Ikkō Yōhei Kōno
Party JCP Democratic Socialist New Liberal Club
Last election 16 seats, 8.4% 11 seats, 6.7% 4 seats, 3.9%
Seats after 12 11 2
Seat change Decrease4 Steady Decrease2
Popular vote 4,072,019 3,364,478 351,291
Percentage 7.3% 6.0% 0.6%
Swing Decrease1.1% Increase0.7% Decrease3.3%

President of the House
of Councillors
before election

Ken Yasui
LDP

Elected President of the House
of Councillors

Masatoshi Tokunaga
LDP

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 22 June 1980. On 16 May the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) brought no-confidence motion before the Diet relating to corruption issues, proposing more defense spending and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives to withdraw its backing from the government. Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion. The government was defeated by 56 votes in total of 243 and resigned. For the first time elections for both the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives were elected at the same time. In the elections of both the houses the LDP gained a majority.
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