Sangiin election 2016

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2013Direct election 2016 (73 seats)
(wins and losses: DP to DPJ , Osaka Ishin to Nippon Ishin )
2019
Share of votes in%
 %
40
30th
20th
10
0
39.9
25.1
7.5
7.3
5.8
0.9
0.5
0.1
2.7
10.1
DP
Otherwise.
Independent
Gains and losses
compared to 2013
 % p
 10
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
-2.8
+8.8
+2.4
-3.3
-1.4
+0.9
± 0.0
+0.1
-0.6
+6.1
DP
Otherwise.
Independent
Proportional election 2016 (48 seats)
Share of votes in%
 %
40
30th
20th
10
0
35.9
21.0
13.5
10.7
9.2
2.7
1.9
1.3
1.0
2.6
Gains and losses
compared to 2013
 % p
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
+1.2
+7.6
-0.7
+1.0
-2.7
+0.3
+0.1
+1.3
+1.0
+1.4
Overall composition of the sangiin according to the choice
         
A total of 242 seats

The 2016 Sangiin election , formally the “24th Ordinary election of Sangiin MPs ”( Japanese 第 24 回 参議院 議員 通常 選 挙 dai-nijūyon-kai Sangiin giin tsūjōotenyo ), to the Japanese Council House ( Sangiin ) , the upper house (jōin) of the national parliament ( Kokkai ) , took place on July 10th 2016 took place.

Half of the 242 MPs stood for a six-year term in a trench election system : 73 were determined by non-transferable individual votes in 45  prefectural constituencies, including for the first time two combined constituencies from two prefectures each ( Tottori - Shimane and Tokushima - Kōchi ), 48 in nationwide proportional representation with preferential vote .

Starting position

Overall composition of the Sangiin before the election
          
A total of 242 seats

Before the election, the Liberal Democratic Party held 115 out of 242 seats in the Sangiin, after gaining 31 seats in 2013.

Election campaign

Candidates and nomination strategy

There were a total of 389 candidates in 2016, 44 fewer than in 2013. Of these, 225 ran for the 73 majority election seats, while twelve parties and political groups with a total of 164 candidates competed for the 48 proportional representation.

In the single-mandate constituencies, which are often decisive, and whose number was 32 higher than ever after the reassignment of seats to prefectures, four opposition parties (Minshin, CPJ, SDP, Seikatsu) agreed on a common nomination strategy, for the first time with the full explicit involvement of the Japanese Communist Party. As a result, in most of the single-mandate constituencies of the established parties (excluding political groups not previously represented in parliament) there was only one candidate for government and one for opposition.

Voter turnout and outcome

The turnout was 54.7%, an increase of around two percentage points compared to the last election in 2013, but was almost three points lower than in 2010, when the same half of the chamber last stood for election. With over 60% it was highest in the prefectures Akita, Yamagata, Nagano and Shimane, under 50% it was in Hiroshima, Tokushima, Kōchi and Miyazaki. The number of voters who took advantage of the early voting option rose to a record nearly 16 million nationwide, around 15% of all eligible voters, or more than one in four actual voters.

Result of the 24th council election
Political party Composition before the election SNTV / FPTP majority election
in 45 prefectural constituencies
D'Hondt proportional representation
in 1 national constituency
Elected in 2016 Composition
according to the choice
total not an option for optional be right proportion of Seats be right proportion of Seats
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
Jiyūminshutō
115 65 50 22,590,793 39.94% 36 20.114.788 35.91% 19th 55 120
Minshintō
(~ "Democratic Progressive Party")
62 17th 45 14.215.956 25.14% 21st 11,751,015 20.98% 11 32 49
Kōmeitō
(~ "Justice Party")
20th 11 9 4,263,422 7.54% 7th 7,572,960 13.52% 7th 14th 25th
Communist Party of Japan (CPJ)
Nihon Kyōsantō
11 8th 3 4,103,514 7.26% 1 6,016,195 10.74% 5 6th 14th
Ōsaka Ishin no Kai (Ōsaka Ishin / OIshin)
(~ "Assembly of Renewal / Restoration Osaka")
7th 5 2 3,303,419 5.84% 3 5,153,584 9.20% 4th 7th 12
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Shakaiminshutō
3 1 2 289,899 0.51% 0 1,536,239 2.74% 1 1 2
Seikatsu no Tō (Seikatsu)
(~ "Party of [daily] life")
3 1 2 - 1,067,301 1.91% 1 1 2
Nippon no kokoro o taisetsu ni suru tō (Kokoro)
(~ "Party to which the heart of Japan is important")
3 3 0 535.517 0.95% 0 734.024 1.31% 0 0 3
Shintō Kaikaku (Kaikaku)
(~ "New Reform Party")
2 0 2 60,431 0.11% 0 580,653 1.04% 0 0 0
Kokumin ikari no koe
(~ "voice of popular anger")
0 0 0 82,357 0.15% 0 466.706 0.83% 0 0 0
Kōfuku-jitsugen-tō
(~ "happiness realization party")
0 0 0 963.585 1.70% 0 366.815 0.65% 0 0 0
Shiji seitō nashi
(~ "[there is] no party that [I / we / you] support [s]";
otherwise a typical category in political polls)
0 0 0 127,367 0.23% 0 647.071 1.16% 0 0 0
Others 4th 3 1 279,681 0.49% 0 - 0 3
Independent 11 7th 4th 5,739,452 10.15% 5 - 5 12
Total (seats / valid votes) 241
(1 vacancy)
121 120
(1 vacancy)
56,555,393 100.00% 73 56.007.353 100.00% 48 121 242
Turnout: from 106,202,873 eligible voters 58.094.005 54.70% 58,085,678 54.69%

Remarks:

  • Ambiguous voices lead to fractional votes in Japan . The decimal places remaining after nationwide addition have been rounded here. (Still, whole votes are not automatically “whole voters”.)
  • The parties are listed here with their (domestic) names: translated if established, transcribed if not (with a literal translation in brackets as possible). For the self-chosen names for the external presentation in English, see the individual articles on parties, if applicable.
  • to the number of seats by party
    • Some media indicate a vacancy for the composition before the election. This was a rather technical one, because a party-changing MP ran for proportional representation for a party six years ago, later became a candidate for it as a successor, but wanted to run for a party in a prefectural constituency in 2016 and resigned shortly before the end of the session to do so to do. ( Yūichi Mayama , LDP → on the 2010 election: MinnaYuiIshin → non-party (Minshintō faction) → on the 2016 election: Minshintō).
    • Mainly because of such discrepancies between parliamentary groups and party memberships or formal party nominations, which also affect some other MPs (especially in 2012, several MPs moved up because some candidates for the election to the House of Representatives gave up or automatically lost their seats in the Council House) different media partly different information for the composition before the election, for the elected MPs and the overall composition after the election according to party.
    • Here in the table is the list published by the Yomiuri Shimbun. This includes the vacancy and all candidates without a formal party nomination at the time of the election are counted as independents, including Kenji Nakanishi in Kanagawa, who was subsequently nominated by the LDP on the evening of the election and is already included in the election results of the LDP by other media . The MPs of the Nippon o genki ni suru kai ( 日本 を 元 気 に す る 会 , English AEJ etc.), who did not stand in either of the two electoral segments in 2016 (and no longer formed as a parliamentary group in the first session after the election ), are counted among the others, as well as the MP Keiko Itokazu from Okinawa, who was not up for re-election, from Okinawa Shakai Taishūtō .

Single results

New overall composition of the Sangiin according to "camp"
       
A total of 242 seats

The common opposition strategy in the (winner-take-all) single-seat constituencies had limited success, especially in eastern and northern Japan: the opposition parties won significantly more constituencies than in 2013, but only a few more than in 2010, when the same class of MPs last elected stood, but was able to defeat some LDP MPs, including two incumbent ministers in the Abe cabinet. Results in the single-mandate constituencies 2010, 2013 and 2016 in comparison:

  • 2010 (29 single constituencies): LDP [then opposition] 21, DPJ [then ruling party] 8
  • 2013 (31 single-electoral districts): LDP 29, other parties / non-party 2
  • 2016 (32 electoral districts): LDP 21, opposition 11.

All four remaining prefectures with two mandates divided the seats equally between both major parties. In the larger multi-mandate constituencies, the LDP in Kantō was able to build on its relatively successful results of 2013: It won 2 of 6 seats in Tokyo, 2 of 3 in Chiba and, for the first time ever, two seats in an election in Kanagawa (Kenji Nakanishi, above the election of non-party LDP parliamentary group member, ran for and won there as an independent with LDP support, but was then nominated retrospectively). In the larger multi-mandate constituencies in Kansai, the Ōsaka Ishin no Kai was successful: It won two seats in Osaka and one in Hyōgo, but otherwise remained without a victory, in Tokyo Yasuo Tanaka missed the sixth seat with 0.7% deficit. For the Minshintō Yoshio Hachiro was able to narrowly win Hokkaidō's third seat, in Aichi and Tokyo the party was able to hold its two seats each, in Hyōgo and Osaka it remained completely without an election winner. The Kōmeitō won a mandate in each of seven prefectures, their best result in the majority election ever. The Japanese Communist Party was able to win a seat in Tokyo as it did in 2013, but otherwise none in the majority election. As a result of the opposition cooperation, it received significantly fewer votes than usual nationwide with fewer candidates, but the remaining candidates had potentially better chances of success; however, the only joint opposition candidate in single-mandate constituencies by the CPJ, Ken'ichi Tanabe in Kagawa, was rejected without a chance.

In proportional representation - where votes are cast for parties and not just for individual candidates and the LDP, which is traditionally unpopular as a party compared to the election success of its candidates, was often only moderately successful - the LDP achieved its best result since 2001 with almost 36% of the votes won 19 seats. The Minshinto won eleven, an improvement on the 2013 Democratic result, but a significant loss compared to the 2010 election, when the Democrats were the strongest party in the proportional representation and the later dissolved Minna no Tō was the third strongest party , which was partly dissolved in Minshinto precursors were, and thus also in the composition of the Chamber. As in 2013, the Kōmeitō won seven proportional representation, with a total of 14 seats, the best overall result in 24 years.

In the personally itemized result of the proportional representation, i.e. taking into account the preferential votes, which unconditionally decide without a quorum on the order of the proportional representation in Sangiin elections, several again-running MPs lost their seats, including:

  • In the Liberal Democrats, the former baseball player Tsuneo Horiuchi with 84,597 votes (the last enough for an election, 19th place on the LDP list was won by Shūkō Sonoda with 101,154 votes),
  • where Minshintō, the total lost many proportional representation deputies because of the over 2010 decline in voting participation among others, Naoki Tanaka , 2016 MP for Niigata, with 86,596 votes and Takeshi Maeda sufficient with only 59,853 (the last for an election, 11th place, won Shinkun Haku with 138,813 votes),
  • in the case of the Social Democrats, party leader Tadatomo Yoshida , who received 153,197 votes, - his predecessor Mizuho Fukushima retained the only remaining SDP seat with 254,956 votes, and
  • both MPs of the Shinto Kaikaku, which in any case remained without a proportional representation seat, so that its last MPs in the national parliament lost and thus in the future also the legal party status and state party funding.
2016 election winner by party
Party affiliation of the election winners (as of: election evening) :

Government:

  • Liberal Democratic Party here including Kenji Nakanishi (Kanagawa, Independent), LDP nominee on election evening
  • Kōmeitō
  • Proponents of a constitutional amendment:
  • Osaka Ishin no Kai
  • Other opposition:
  • Minshinto
  • Communist Party of Japan
  • Social Democratic Party
  • Seikatsu no Tō
  • Independent (opposition cooperation in single-mandate constituencies)

  • In multi-mandate constituencies from left to right with descending numbers of votes
    Hokkaidō (+1)
    !!!!!
    Aomori
    !
    Akita
    !
    Iwate
    !
    Niigata (−1)
    !
    Yamagata
    !
    Miyagi (−1)
    !
    Ishikawa
    !
    Toyama
    !
    Tochigi
    !
    Fukushima (−1)
    !
    Fukui
    !
    Nagano (−1)
    !
    Gunma
    !
    Saitama
    !!!!!
    Ibaraki
    !!!
    Shimane - Tottori (−1 combo.)
    !
    Hyōgo (+1)
    !!!!!
    Kyoto
    !!!
    Shiga
    !
    Gifu (−1)
    !
    Yamanashi
    !
    Tokyo (+1)
    !!!!!!!!!!!
    Chiba
    !!!!!
    Yamaguchi
    !
    Hiroshima
    !!!
    Okayama
    !
    Osaka (+1)
    !!!!!!!
    Nara
    !
    Aichi (+1)
    !!!!!!!
    Shizuoka
    !!!
    Kanagawa (+1)
    !!!!!!!
    saga
    !
    Fukuoka (+1)
    !!!!!
    Wakayama
    !
    Mie
    !
    Nagasaki
    !
    Kumamoto
    !
    Ōita
    !
    Ehime
    !
    Kagawa
    !
    Nationwide proportional representation (48 seats)

    19 7 4 11 5 1 1

    + 1 / −1: constituency elected one more / less representative than were up for re-election / were elected in 2010

    Kagoshima
    !
    Miyazaki
    !
    Tokushima - Kōchi (−1 combi.)
    !
    Okinawa
    !

    Effects

    The governing coalition of LDP and Kōmeitō expanded the majority they won in 2013 with a total of 146 seats (including Nakanishi). A few days after the election, Tatsuo Hirano (Iwate, 2013-2019), previously non-party member of the Kaikaku faction, joined the LDP and gave the LDP its first independent absolute majority since 1989 - at least in terms of legislation, the LDP could also govern alone. However, you need more than an absolute majority to safely control all committees, a so-called “safe majority” ( 安定 多数 , antei tasū ), which currently has 129 seats in the Sangiin, and the common electoral strategy - a large part of the MPs of the two coalition parties in both chambers won their mandate with the explicit electoral support of the other party - making an end to the coalition unlikely in the short term.

    The main opponents of a constitutional revision sought by Prime Minister Abe, but put in the background during the election campaign - Minshintō, KPJ, SDP, Seikatsu, Okinawa Shakai Taishūtō and non-opposition party members - came together to 73 seats and thus missed the threshold of 81 seats (> one third) which would be necessary in order to be able to safely prevent a constitutional amendment proposal from being submitted to the people in parliament.

    The party chairman of the Minshinto, Katsuya Okada , announced a few weeks after the election that he would no longer run for election in the fall election of the party chairman. The MP Renhō [Murata], who had recently turned down calls for a candidacy in the gubernatorial election in Tokyo on July 31 , instead ran for re-election as a MP and in Tokyo 2016, as six years ago, clearly the highest with over 1 million votes Obtained a share of the vote, declared their candidacy early and won in all parts of the vote - similar to the previous case with the Democrats : weighted in a point system, MPs in and already determined candidates for the national parliament, prefecture and local MPs, members and registered supporters are against Seiji Maehara and Yūichirō Tamaki .

    The elected Tadatomo Yoshida , chairman of the Social Democrats, initially held out the prospect of resigning as party chairman. In the Sangiin, the party formed a factional community after the election with Ichirō Ozawa's Seikatsu no Tō. On September 1, the SDP board declared that there was no need to resign, and Yoshida withdrew his resignation.

    On August 1, 2016, Chūichi Date (LDP, Hokkaidō) were elected President and Akira Gunji (Minshintō, Ibaraki) as Vice President of the Sangiin. On August 3, Prime Minister Abe reshuffled his cabinet , which left some key ministers in office, eight first-time ministers, and redeployments. At the same time, the LDP party leadership was newly appointed, and Abe Toshihiro Nikai was appointed General Secretary .

    Individual evidence

    1. 党派 別 得 票数 (選 挙 区) . In: 第 24 回 参議院 議員 通常 選 挙 結果 調 . Sōmushō , July 11, 2016, accessed April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    2. 党派 別 得 票数 (比例 代表) . In: 第 24 回 参議院 議員 通常 選 挙 結果 調 . Sōmushō , July 11, 2016, accessed April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    3. 2016 参 院 選> 党派 別 議席 獲得 状況 (改選 + 非 改選) . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    4. Felix Lill: Democracy, that can go away . Zeit Online, July 9, 2016.
    5. 2016 参 院 選> 党派 別 議席 獲得 状況 (改選 + 非 改選) . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    6. 2016 参 院 選> 選 挙 区 宮城 . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    7. a b 2016 参 院 選> 選 挙 区 東京 . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    8. 2016 参 院 選> 比例 代表 日本 共産党 . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    9. a b Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication: Results of the 24th regular election of members of the Council House (Japanese)
    10. 参 院 選 、 期 日前 投票 が 最多 の 1598 万人 有 権 者 の 15 % . In: nikkei.com . July 10, 2016, Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    11. 真 山 勇 一 氏 が 辞職 民進党 公認 で 出馬 へ . In: Sankei News . June 20, 2016, Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    12. a b Yomiuri Online : 2016 election results
    13. a b Asahi Shimbun Digital: 2016 election results
    14. 全国 32 の 1 人 区 、 野 党 共 闘 の 結果 は . In: Asahi Shimbun Digital. July 2016, Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    15. 野 党 共 闘 及 ば ず 複数 区 、 比例 に 課題 1 人 区 、 一定 の 効果 . In: Mainichi Shimbun . July 2016, Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    16. 神奈川 で 初 、 自 民 2 議席 . In: Mainichi Shimbun . July 11, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    17. a b 公 明 党 が 24 年 ぶ り に 14 議席 獲得 山口 那 津 男 代表 「連 立 政 権 の の 実 績 に 対 す る る 有 権 者 の 積極 的 な 評 価 だ」 . In: Sankei News . July 11, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016 (Japanese).
    18. 2016 参 院 選 . In: NHK Senyko Web. July 11, 2016, Retrieved April 11, 2019 (Japanese).
    19. ^ Democratic Party chief Okada won't seek re-election. In: The Japan Times . July 30, 2016, accessed August 17, 2016 .
    20. Renho, the acting president of the Democratic Party, declines joining Tokyo gubernatorial race. In: The Japan Times . June 18, 2016, accessed on August 17, 2016 .
    21. Renho steps forward in bid to lead DP ahead of Sept. 15 vote. In: The Japan Times . August 5, 2016, accessed on August 17, 2016 .
    22. 吉田 党 首 が 続 投 = 非 国会 議員 、 辞 意 を 撤回 - 社 民 . In: Jiji.com . September 1, 2016, Retrieved September 26, 2016 (Japanese).
    23. Abe to tap Toshihiro Nikai as LDP secretary-general to replace ailing Sadakazu Tanigaki. In: The Japan Times . August 1, 2016, accessed on August 17, 2016 .

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