2000 Japanese general election

25 June 2000
All 480 seats in the House of Representatives 241 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	64.44% (4.79pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– Liberal Democratic Yoshirō Mori 28.31 233 −6 Democratic Yukio Hatoyama 25.18 127 New Komeito Takenori Kanzaki 12.97 31 New Communist Tetsuzo Fuwa 11.23 20 −6 Liberal Ichirō Ozawa 11.01 22 New Social Democratic Takako Doi 9.36 19 +4 Liberal League Torao Tokuda 1.10 1 New New Conservative Chikage Oogi 0.41 7 New Independents Motoo Shiina 0.25 5 New Independents – – 15 +6 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Districts and PR districts, shaded according to winners' vote strength. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Yoshirō Mori Liberal Democratic Yoshirō Mori Liberal Democratic

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General elections were held in Japan on 25 June 2000 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) maintained a majority in the House of Representatives, but its total percentage of seats shrank from 65% to 56%, and its two coalition partners also lost several seats. Two cabinet members, Takashi Fukaya and Tokuichiro Tamazawa, lost their seats. The Democratic Party made major gains under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama.^[1]

Background

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke in April 2000 and was replaced by Yoshiro Mori. Although the term limit for the House of Representatives would have been reached in October 2000, Mori dissolved the House on June 2 in what became popularly known as the Divine Nation Dissolution (神の国解散) due to a controversial statement by Mori prior to the election, which preceded a slump in government approval ratings from 40% to 20%. The LDP government advocated continued public works spending while the opposition advocated less spending and more governmental reforms.^[2]

The Social Democratic Party left the coalition in 1998 and re-join the opposition after years of coalition with the ideologically contrasting LDP.

Meanwhile, the Komeito Party, a centrist party with roots from the Soka Gakkai based on the Nichiren Buddhist movement and despite almost decades of opposition against the LDP, shifted from centre towards conservatism. An electoral alliance between the once rivals of the Komeito and the LDP has been in effect since the Japanese General election in 2000. For the LDP, despite not being able to win an absolute majority of votes by itself in further elections (especially for the House of Councillors which the LDP lost majority since 1989), the Komeito party has been counted on since then to ensure a stable governing majority rule.

Results

Constituency cartogram

The House of Representatives consisted of 480 members, 300 elected from single-member constituencies and 180 elected on a proportional basis from eleven multi-member constituencies known as Block constituencies.

Party		Proportional			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Liberal Democratic Party	16,943,425	28.31	56	24,945,807	40.97	177	233	–6
	Democratic Party of Japan	15,067,990	25.18	47	16,811,732	27.61	80	127	New
	New Komeito Party	7,762,032	12.97	24	1,231,753	2.02	7	31	New
	Japanese Communist Party	6,719,016	11.23	20	7,352,844	12.08	0	20	–6
	Liberal Party	6,589,490	11.01	18	2,053,736	3.37	4	22	New
	Social Democratic Party	5,603,680	9.36	15	2,315,235	3.80	4	19	+4
	Liberal League	660,724	1.10	0	1,071,012	1.76	1	1	New
	New Conservative Party	247,334	0.41	0	1,230,464	2.02	7	7	New
	Assembly of Independents	151,345	0.25	0	652,138	1.07	5	5	New
	Other parties	99,565	0.17	0	250,681	0.41	0	0	–
	Independents				2,967,069	4.87	15	15	+6
Total		59,844,601	100.00	180	60,882,471	100.00	300	480	–20
Valid votes		59,844,601	95.37		60,882,471	97.01
Invalid/blank votes		2,904,983	4.63		1,877,318	2.99
Total votes		62,749,584	100.00		62,759,789	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		100,492,328	62.44		100,433,798	62.49
Source: Election Resources, IPU

References