Editing Elections in Japan (section)

==National elections==
National elections include:
* {{Nihongo|General elections of members of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]|衆議院議員総選挙|Shūgi-in giin sō-senkyo}}, held every four years unless the lower house is dissolved earlier to elect all members of the House of Representatives at once.
* {{Nihongo|Regular/Ordinary elections of members of the [[House of Councillors (Japan)|House of Councillors]]|参議院議員通常選挙|Sangi-in giin tsūjō-senkyo}}, held every three years in [[staggered elections]] to six-year terms with half of the membership up in each class.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Government of Modern Japan: Elections {{!}} Asia for Educators {{!}} Columbia University|url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1900_elections.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=afe.easia.columbia.edu}}</ref>
* {{Nihongo|By-elections of members of the House of Representatives/House of Councillors|衆議院/参議院議員補欠選挙|Shūgiin/Sangiin giin hoketsu-senkyo}} to fill vacant majoritarian seats
* {{Nihongo|Repeat elections of members of the House of Representatives/House of Councillors|衆議院/参議院議員再選挙|Shūgiin/Sangiin giin sai-senkyo}} after an election has been invalidated, e.g. by a winner missing the legal vote quorum or after election law violations

Japan's [[Postwar Japan|post-WWII]] national legislature, the {{Nihongo|[[National Diet]]|国会|Kokkai}}, has two directly elected [[bicameralism|chambers]], elected on independent electoral cycles:

=== House of Representatives ===
The {{Nihongo|[[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]|衆議院|Shūgi-in}} has 465 members, elected for a rarely completed four-year term, 289 members in single-seat [[constituency|constituencies]] and 176 members by [[proportional representation]] in 11 regional "block" constituencies.<ref name=":0" />

[[House of Representatives (Japan)#List of House of Representatives general elections|General elections of members of the House of Representatives]] are usually held before the end of a four-year term as the chamber may be dissolved by the [[Cabinet of Japan|cabinet]] via the [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]]. Most [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime ministers]] use that option. The only exception in post-war history was the "[[Lockheed Election]]" of 1976 in which the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] lost its seat majority for the first time.

The single-seat constituencies are decided by [[Plurality electoral system|plurality]], and the proportional seats are handed out in each "block" constituency to party lists proportionally (by the [[D'Hondt method]]) to their share of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web|title=公職選挙法 {{!}} e-Gov法令検索|url=https://elaws.e-gov.go.jp/document?lawid=325AC1000000100|access-date=2021-08-09|website=elaws.e-gov.go.jp}}</ref> Each voter votes twice, once for a candidate in the local constituency, and once for a [[List of political parties in Japan|party]] in the regional "block" constituency. In a [[parallel voting|parallel system]], there is no link between votes in one tier and seat numbers in the other; but so-called {{Nihongo|dual candidacies|重複立候補|chōfuku rikkōho}} of one candidate in both tiers simultaneously are allowed. If such dual candidates lose in the majoritarian tier, they still have a chance to be elected in the proportional block. Parties may also place dual district and block candidates on the same list rank; in that case, the {{Nihongo3|ratio of margin of defeat|惜敗率|[[Sekihairitsu]]}} system determines the order of candidates.

=== House of Councillors ===
The {{Nihongo|[[House of Councillors (Japan)|House of Councillors]]|参議院|Sangi-in}} has 245 members (248 from 2022),<ref>{{Cite news|title=Diet passes controversial bill adding seats to Japan's Upper House for first time in nearly half a century|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/18/national/politics-diplomacy/diet-passes-controversial-bill-adding-seats-japans-upper-house-first-time-nearly-half-century/#.XMRtHJNKjMI|newspaper=The Japan Times|date=18 July 2018|access-date=27 April 2019}}</ref> elected for a fixed six-year term, 147 (2022–: 148) members by [[single non-transferable vote]] (SNTV) in 45 single- and multi-seat constituencies (most are prefectures, two combined constituencies comprise two neighbouring prefectures each) and 98 (2022–: 100) by [[proportional representation]] (by D'Hondt method) with optionally open lists in a [[Japanese House of Councillors national proportional representation block|single, nationwide constituency]].

[[House of Councillors#List of House of Councillors regular elections|Regular/Ordinary elections of members of the House of Councillors]] are held once every three years. In [[staggered elections]], half of the House of Councillors comes up for election every three years in elections. The term is fixed, the House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. This, too, is a parallel electoral system. Dual candidacies are not allowed. As in House of Representatives elections, voters have two votes: In the majoritarian election, the vote has to be for a candidate, but in the proportional election, the vote may be for either a party list or a single candidate; in the latter case, the vote counts as both a vote for the party list (to determine proportional seat distribution), and as a preference vote within that list (to determine the order or proportional candidates within that list). The [[district magnitude]]s in the majoritarian tier vary between one and six, dependent on, but not fully proportional to the population of each prefecture. In single-member constituencies, SNTV becomes equivalent to [[first-past-the-post]], whereas seats are usually split between different parties/alliances in multi-member constituencies (and in the proportional constituency by definition). Therefore, the {{Nihongo|single-member constituencies of the House of Councillors|[[:ja:参議院一人区|参議院一人区]]|Sangiin ichinin-ku}} are more likely to swing the election result and often receive more media and campaign attention. The proportional election to the House of Councillors allows the voters to cast a preference vote for a single candidate on a party list. The preference votes strictly determined the ranking of candidates on party lists before 2019. Since the 2019 election, parties are allowed to prioritize individual candidates on their proportional list over voter preferences in a {{Nihongo|"special frame"|特定枠|tokutei-waku}}. In the 2019 election, almost all parties continued to use completely open lists; exceptions were the LDP which used the "special frame" to give secure list spots to two LDP prefectural federations affected by the introduction of combined constituencies in 2016, [[Reiwa Shinsengumi]] which used it to give secure list spots to two candidates with severe disabilities, and the minor "Labourers' Party for the liberation of labour".<ref>Jiji Press, 4 July 2019: [https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2019070401075&g=pol 特定枠、れいわ・労働も利用【19参院選】]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, retrieved 18 September 2019.</ref><ref>Mainichi Shimbun, 5 July 2019: [https://mainichi.jp/senkyo/articles/20190705/ddm/005/010/054000c 2019参院選 公示 特定枠に5候補者 比例に導入、優先的に当選] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208060011/https://mainichi.jp/senkyo/articles/20190705/ddm/005/010/054000c |date=8 December 2019 }}, retrieved 18 September 2019.</ref>
[[File:Election in Japan2014 (2).JPG|thumb|Voting in [[Higashiōsaka]], [[Osaka Prefecture]], Japan, 2014.]]

=== Double elections ===
The electoral cycles of the two chambers of the Diet are usually not synchronized. Even when the current constitution took effect in 1947, the [[1947 Japanese House of Councillors election|first House of Councillors election]] was held several days apart from the [[1947 Japanese general election|23rd House of Representatives election]]. Only in 1980 and 1986, general and regular election coincided on the same day because the House of Representatives was dissolved in time for the election to be scheduled together with the House of Councillors election in early summer.

=== By- and repeat elections ===
Vacant district seats in both Houses are generally filled in by-elections. Nowadays, these are usually scheduled in April and October as necessary. Vacant proportional seats in both Houses and district seats in the House of Councillors that fall vacant within three months of a regular election are filled by {{Nihongo3|roughly "being elected as runner-up"|繰り上げ当選|kuriage-tōsen}}: the highest ranking candidate on a proportional list or in the electoral district who was not elected and is not disqualified takes the seat. Disqualifications may, for example, happen if a candidate for the House of Councillors runs for the House of Representatives or vice versa, or after a violation of campaign laws.

===Election of the Prime Minister===
Between 1885 and 1947 in the [[Empire of Japan]], the prime minister was not elected by the legislature, but responsible to, chosen and appointed by the Emperor. In practice, the {{Nihongo||元老|[[Genrō]]}} usually nominated a candidate for appointment. The {{Nihongo|Imperial Diet|帝国議会|Teikoku-gikai}} and its elected lower house, the House of Representatives, which were set up in 1890 according to the Imperial Constitution, had no constitutionally guaranteed role in the formation of cabinets.<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=The Ally From The Far East - Japan in World War 1 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG_SzUVNo8I |access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref> https://www.ndl.go.jp/jikihitsu/e/part2/s2_1.html

Since 1947, the [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] has been chosen in the {{Nihongo|"designation election of the [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime minister]]"|内閣総理大臣指名選挙|Naikaku sōridaijin shimei senkyo}} <small>[[:ja:内閣総理大臣指名選挙|(ja)]]</small> in the [[National Diet]]. It is held after a cabinet has submitted its resignation – the outgoing cabinet remains as caretaker cabinet until the Imperial inauguration ceremony of a new prime minister –; a cabinet must resign en masse under the constitution (Articles 69 and 70) 1. always on convocation of the first Diet after a general election of the House of Representatives, 2. if the post of prime minister has fallen vacant – that includes cases when the prime minister is permanently incapacitated, e.g. by illness, kidnapping or defection –, or 3. if a no-confidence vote in the House of Representatives is not answered by the dissolution of the chamber. Though both Houses of the Diet vote in two-round elections to select a prime minister, the House of Representatives has the decisive vote: If the two Houses vote for different candidates (as they did in 1948, 1989, 1998, 2007 and 2008), a procedure in the {{Nihongo|joint committee of both houses|両院協議会|Ryōin Kyōgikai}} may reach a consensus; but eventually the candidate of the House of Representatives becomes that of the whole Diet and thereby prime minister-designate. The designated prime minister must still be ceremonially appointed by the [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]] in the {{Nihongo|[[Imperial Investiture]]|親任式|Shinnin-shiki}} to enter office; but unlike some heads of state, the Emperor has no [[reserve power]] to appoint anyone other than the person elected by the Diet.

In 2001, LDP president and Prime Minister [[Junichirō Koizumi]] instituted an advisory council to investigate the possibility of introducing direct popular election of the prime minister in a constitutional revision.<ref>Kantei: [http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/kousen/index_e.html Advisory Council to Consider the Direct Election of the Prime Minister]</ref>