Shūgiin election 1990

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Share of votes in%

%

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

46.1

24.4

8.0

7.3

4.8

0.9

0.5

Independent

VSDP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1986

% p

8th

6th

4th

2

0

-2

-4

-3.3

+7.2

-1.4

-0.8

+1.5

-1.6

+0.1

-1.5

Independent

VSDP

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats after the 1990 election

A total of 512 seats

CPY : 16
SPJ : 136
DSP : 14
VSDP : 4
Kōmeitō : 45
Otherwise: 1
Independent: 21
LDP : 275

The 1990 Shūgiin election was the 39th election to Shūgiin , the Japanese lower house, and took place on February 18, 1990.

The LDP government of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu , which was in office for one year, found itself in a survey low because of various scandals and the sales tax of 3% introduced in 1986. In polls, his cabinet received approval ratings of less than 40 percent. The largest opposition party, the SPJ, had won more seats than the LDP under popular chairman Takako Doi in the Sangiin election last year . Prime Minister Kaifu offered his resignation in the event that the LDP should lose an absolute majority in the Shūgiin.

In addition to the controversial sales tax, the main campaign topics were the recruit scandal and the sex scandals that led to the resignation of Prime Ministers Takeshita and Uno , as well as security relations with the United States - the revision of the security treaty was a long-standing demand by the left parties.

For the first time in 30 years, there was also a live broadcast television debate, in which Kaifu and Doi as well as the top candidates from Kōmeitō, DSP and KPJ took part.

The turnout was 73.31%.

Party / faction		be right	Seats	modification
Party / faction		be right	Seats	to the last election	on the composition before the election
	Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)	30.315.417	275	−25
Takeshita faction			69
Miyazawa faction			62
Abe faction			61
Ex-Nakasone faction			48
Kōmoto faction			26th
Nikaidō group			4th
without faction			20th
	Opposition parties	30,581,370	216
	Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ)	16,025,473	136	+51
	Kōmeitō	5,242,675	45	−11
	Communist Party of Japan (CPJ)	5,226,987	16	−10
	Democratic Socialist Party (DSP)	3,178,949	14th	−12
	Social Democratic Federation	566,957	4th	± 0
	Progressive Party ( 進歩党 , Shimpotō )	281,793	1	(+1)
	Others	58,536	0	(−6)
	Independent	4,807,524	21st	+12
total		65,704,311	512	± 0	+17 (vacancies)

500 of the elected MPs were men.

Effects

The LDP suffered significant losses with a high turnout, but was able to maintain an absolute majority and form a government again. LDP General Secretary Ichirō Ozawa said after the election that the opposition had failed to offer voters a clear alternative to the LDP and spoke of a "stable majority". He wanted to appease the internal party opponents in particular. In the dispute over the appointment of new cabinet posts after the election, Kaifu's weak position among the factions emerged again: while Kaifu wanted to insist that politicians who were involved in the recruit scandal not be made ministers again, the leaders urged the three largest factions, Noboru Takeshita , Shintarō Abe and Michio Watanabe , to nominate experienced representatives of their factions as ministers. Kaifu was able to prevail, but in 1991 could no longer withstand the pressure of the faction chairmen and resigned.

The SPJ achieved its best result since 1967, but its substantial gains were largely at the expense of the smaller opposition parties and were largely attributed to the popularity of Takako Doi. DSP chairman Nagasue Eiichi took responsibility for the heavy losses of his party, which had already done poorly in the Sangiin election last year, and resigned.

The 25 candidates of Shinritō, founded shortly before the election by Ōmu-Shinrikyō founder Shōkō Asahara , received a total of only a few thousand votes.

Web links

Inter-Parliamentary Union : Japan. Parliamentary Chamber: Shugiin. Elections hero in 1990

Individual evidence

↑ Steven R. Weisman: Japanese Face Turning Point in Vote Next Month. In: The New York Times. January 21, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .
↑ James Sterngold: Japan's Candidates Argue Face to Face. In: The New York Times. February 3, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .
↑ Steven R. Weisman: LONG-RULING PARTY RETAINS CONTROL IN JAPANESE VOTE. In: The New York Times. February 19, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .

[1] Steven R. Weisman: Japanese Face Turning Point in Vote Next Month. In: The New York Times. January 21, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .

[2] James Sterngold: Japan's Candidates Argue Face to Face. In: The New York Times. February 3, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .

[3] Steven R. Weisman: LONG-RULING PARTY RETAINS CONTROL IN JAPANESE VOTE. In: The New York Times. February 19, 1990, accessed May 28, 2008 .