TOKYO OCT 21 JAPAN PRESS SERVICE -- The 41st House of Representatives general election was voted on October 20. The Japanese Communist Party won 26 seats (24 from 11 proportional representation constituencies and 2 from single-seat constituencies), an increase of 11 seats from 15 seats the party had had before the election (which were won in the 1993 House of Representatives general election).
Over 7 million votes (about 12 percent of total votes) were cast for the Japanese Communist Party in the proportional representation constituencies, the highest ever number the party won in the national-level elections. This was the first general election following the introduction of the single-seat plus proportional representation election, the aim of which was to shut out the JCP from the Diet. The turnout of votes was 59.6 percent, the lowest ever, due to the renege on their election pledges by all the political parties, except the JCP, following Liberal Democratic Party politics, and their ignorance of the people's interests.
Tetsuzo Fuwa, JCP Presidium chairperson, Kazuo Shii, Secretariat head, and Mitsuhiro Kaneko, Presidium vice-chairperson, were returned.
Besides the JCP, the LDP increased seats from 211 to 239, but failed to win the majority (251 of the total 500 seats, which was reduced from 511 before the election). All the other parties, including the newly founded Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), have reduced their seats, or at best, retained the same number of seats before the general election. (see table)
With the strength of 26 of 500 seats in the Lower House, the JCP now holds the right to submit a bill to the House of Representatives, which does not involve a budgetary question.
| Seats won | Before election | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese Communist Party | 26 | 15 |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 239 | 211 |
| New Frontier Party (Shinshinto) | 156 | 160 |
| Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) | 52 | 52 |
| Social Democratic Party of Japan | 15 | 30 |
| New Party Sakigake | 2 | 9 |
| Other | 1 | 6 |
| Independents | 9 | 10 |
| Total | 500 | 493 |
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