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1960 Japanese general election

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1960 Japanese general election

← 1958 20 November 1960 1963 →

All 467 seats in the House of Representatives
234 seats needed for a majority
Turnout73.50% (Decrease 3.48pp)
  First party Second party
  JFKWHP-KN-C18157 in Hayato Ikeda (cropped) restored Crop.jpg Saburo Eda 1963 Salvaged Crop.jpg
Leader Hayato Ikeda Saburō Eda
(replacing Inejirō Asanuma )
Party LDP Socialist
Last election 57.80%, 287 seats 32.94%, 166 seats
Seats won 296 145
Seat change Increase9 Decrease21
Popular vote 22,740,272 10,887,134
Percentage 57.56% 27.56%
Swing Decrease0.24pp Decrease5.88pp

  Third party Fourth party
  NISHIO Suehiro.jpg Kenji Miyamoto (cropped).jpg
Leader Suehiro Nishio Kenji Miyamoto
Party Democratic Socialist JCP
Last election Did not exist 2.55%, 1 seat
Seats won 17 3
Seat change New Increase2
Popular vote 3,464,148 1,156,723
Percentage 8.77% 2.93%
Swing New Increase0.38pp

Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength

Prime Minister before election

Hayato Ikeda
LDP

Elected Prime Minister

Hayato Ikeda
LDP

This article is part of a series on
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Naruhito

Fumihito


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Shigeru Ishiba (LDP)

Second Ishiba Cabinet
(LDPKomeito coalition)


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Fukushiro Nukaga

  • Vice Speaker

Kōichirō Genba


Masakazu Sekiguchi

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Kazuo Ueda


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'General elections were held in Japan on 20 November 1960. The result was a victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, which won 296 of the 467 seats. Voter turnout was 73.5%, the lowest since the 1947 general elections.

Background

The elections came near the end of a turbulent year marked by violent labour disputes at Mitsui Miike Coal Mine, the "May 19th Incident" in which Nobusuke Kishi and LDP lawmakers in the Diet forced the revised US-Japan Security Treaty through parliament (causing an upsurge in the Anpo protests), and the assassination of Japan Socialist Party (JSP) leader Inejirō Asanuma by wakizashi-wielding right-wing youth named Otoya Yamaguchi. Prior to the elections there were a number of left-wing street protests and right-wing vigilante actions.

Campaign

As public antipathy was largely towards Kishi and his cabinet, rather than flagship LDP policies, the election was not a setback for the party. Kishi's successor, Hayato Ikeda, was popular for his moderate attitude and public image as a practical finance minister, and LDP candidates focused heavily on issues such as maintaining already-strong economic growth. Ikeda made a splash with his promise to double the national income in ten years, known as the "Income Doubling Plan," which also promised economic benefits such as tax cuts to small businesses, farmers, and consumers.

The LDP also benefitted from factionalism in the JSP, as the more moderate and anti-communist Democratic Socialist Party seceded from the JSP at the beginning of the year, leading to a spoiler effect.

Results

Although the LDP saw a small reduction in its vote share compared to the 1958 elections and the JSP and DSP collectively received around 1.3 million more votes than the united JSP did in the 1958 elections, the LDP gained nine seats, while the JSP and DSP lost a net four seats.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Democratic Party22,740,27257.56296+9
Japan Socialist Party10,887,13427.56145–21
Democratic Socialist Party3,464,1488.7717New
Japanese Communist Party1,156,7232.933+2
Other parties141,9410.361
Independents1,118,9052.835–7
Total39,509,123100.004670
Valid votes39,509,12398.97
Invalid/blank votes410,9961.03
Total votes39,920,119100.00
Registered voters/turnout54,312,99373.50
Source: Baerwald, Mackie

By prefecture

Prefecture Total
seats
Seats won
LDP JSP DSP JCP Others Ind.
Aichi 19 12 6 1
Akita 8 5 3
Aomori 7 6 1
Chiba 13 10 3
Ehime 9 7 2
Fukui 4 3 1
Fukuoka 19 10 7 2
Fukushima 12 7 4 1
Gifu 9 5 3 1
Gunma 10 6 4
Hiroshima 12 8 3 1
Hokkaido 22 12 10
Hyōgo 18 10 6 1 1
Ibaraki 12 9 3
Ishikawa 6 5 1
Iwate 8 6 2
Kagawa 6 4 1 1
Kagoshima 11 9 2
Kanagawa 13 8 3 2
Kōchi 5 4 1
Kumamoto 10 7 3
Kyoto 10 4 3 2 1
Mie 9 5 2 1 1
Miyagi 9 6 3
Miyazaki 6 4 2
Nagano 13 8 5
Nagasaki 9 6 3
Nara 5 4 1
Niigata 15 8 7
Ōita 7 5 2
Okayama 10 7 3
Osaka 19 7 7 3 2
Saga 5 3 1 1
Saitama 13 8 4 1
Shiga 5 2 2 1
Shimane 5 4 1
Shizuoka 14 10 4
Tochigi 10 6 4
Tokushima 5 4 1
Tokyo 27 15 11 1
Tottori 4 3 1
Toyama 6 4 2
Wakayama 6 4 2
Yamagata 8 6 2
Yamaguchi 9 6 2 1
Yamanashi 5 4 1
Total 467 296 145 17 3 1 5

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p363 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  2. ^ Douglas H. Mendel, Jr. (1961). "Behind the 1960 Japanese Diet Election". Asian Survey. 1 (1): 3–12. doi:10.2307/3023661. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 3023661.
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