1983 Japanese general election
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 511 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan 256 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turnout | 67.9% (6.6%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
General elections were held in Japan on 18 December 1983 to elect the 511 members of the House of Representatives. The voter turnout was 67.94%, the lowest it had ever been in post-war history up to that point, and a low which would not be surpassed until ten years later.
Contrary to pre-election polls by national daily papers which projected a comfortable majority for the LDP, the latter party lost 34 seats compared to the previous election, falling six seats short of the 256 needed for majority control. As a result, the major conservative party was forced to form a majority coalition government for the first time since 1948.[1] In order to do so, the LDP formed a coalition with the New Liberal Club, a move which JSP leader Masashi Ishibashi called a "betrayal of the electorate."[2]
It is likely that the LDP's losses resulted in great part due to running too many candidates and thus falling prey to the
Results
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democratic Party | 25,982,785 | 45.76 | 250 | –34 | |
Japan Socialist Party | 11,065,083 | 19.49 | 112 | +5 | |
Kōmeitō | 5,745,751 | 10.12 | 58 | +25 | |
Japanese Communist Party | 5,302,485 | 9.34 | 26 | –3 | |
Democratic Socialist Party | 4,129,908 | 7.27 | 38 | +6 | |
New Liberal Club | 1,341,584 | 2.36 | 8 | –4 | |
Socialist Democratic Federation | 381,045 | 0.67 | 3 | 0 | |
Other parties | 62,324 | 0.11 | 0 | – | |
Independents | 2,768,736 | 4.88 | 16 | +5 | |
Total | 56,779,701 | 100.00 | 511 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 56,779,701 | 99.19 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 461,128 | 0.81 | |||
Total votes | 57,240,829 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 84,252,608 | 67.94 | |||
Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan, National Diet |
By prefecture
Prefecture | Total seats |
Seats won | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LDP | JSP | Kōmeitō | DSP | JCP | NLC | SDF | Ind. | ||
Aichi | 22 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | |||
Akita | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||||
Aomori | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Chiba | 16 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||||
Ehime | 9 | 6 | 3 | ||||||
Fukui | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Fukuoka | 19 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||
Fukushima | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Gifu | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Gunma | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | |||||
Hiroshima | 12 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
Hokkaido | 22 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
Hyōgo | 20 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||
Ibaraki | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Ishikawa | 6 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
Iwate | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Kagawa | 6 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
Kagoshima | 11 | 8 | 3 | ||||||
Kanagawa | 19 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||
Kōchi | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Kumamoto | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Kyoto | 10 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
Mie | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Miyagi | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Miyazaki | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Nagano | 13 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Nagasaki | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Nara | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Niigata | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | |||||
Ōita | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Okayama | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
Okinawa | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Osaka | 26 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | ||
Saga | 5 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
Saitama | 15 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
Shiga | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Shimane | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Shizuoka | 14 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
Tochigi | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Tokushima | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Tokyo | 43 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |
Tottori | 4 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
Toyama | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||||
Wakayama | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Yamagata | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Yamaguchi | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Yamanashi | 5 | 3 | 2 | ||||||
Total | 511 | 250 | 112 | 58 | 38 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 16 |