Shūgiin election 1983
The 1983 Shūgiin election was the 37th election to Shūgiin , the Japanese lower house, and took place on December 18, 1983.
On October 12, 1983, the Tokyo District Court ( 東京 地方 裁判 所 , Tōkyō chihō-saiban-sho ) sentenced former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei in the first trial for the Lockheed scandal , but who enjoyed immunity because of his parliamentary mandate. The opposition sought a "resolution calling for resignation" ( 議員 辞職 勧 告 決議 , giin jishoku kankoku ketsugi ) against Tanaka. At the urging of the Tanaka faction, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone dissolved the lower house on November 28th. Topics of the election campaign were, besides the scandal and the demand for “clean politics”, which the Kōmeitō and the SPJ in particular had written on the flags, the reform of the administration and a tax cut promised by Prime Minister Nakasone.
The turnout was 67.9%.
Party / faction | Seats | modification | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
to the last election | on the composition before the election | |||
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) | 250 | −36 | −34 | |
Tanaka faction | 63 | +10 | ||
Suzuki faction | 50 | −4 | ||
Nakasone faction | 42 | −1 | ||
Fukuda faction | 40 | −5 | ||
Kōmoto faction | 28 | (+28) | ||
Ishihara faction | 7th | −6 | ||
without faction | 20th | (−16) | ||
Opposition parties | 245 | +32 | ||
Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ) | 112 | +11 | +5 | |
Kōmeitō | 58 | +24 | +25 | |
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) | 38 | +7 | ||
Communist Party of Japan (CPJ) | 26th | −3 | −3 | |
New Liberal Club | 8th | −2 | −4 | |
Social Democratic Federation | 3 | ± 0 | ||
Independent | 16 | +5 | ||
total | 511 | ± 0 | +13 (vacancies) |
Effects
The LDP lost its absolute majority with a relatively low turnout. To keep a majority in the lower house, Prime Minister Nakasone formed a coalition with the New Liberal Club, which had a minister in the new cabinet . Tanaka Kakuei was elected as the candidate with the most votes in the 3rd constituency of Niigata with five seats to be awarded and retained his immunity. On December 20, 1983, the LDP regained its absolute majority through the accession of eight independent MPs.
Web links
- Interparliamentary Union : Japan: parliamentary elections Shugiin, 1983 (PDF file; 24 kB)