House of Representatives 衆議院 (Shūgiin)
The 45th House of Representatives
Type
Type	Lower house
Leadership
Speaker	Takahiro Yokomichi since September 16, 2009
Structure
Members	480
Political groups	Democratic Party (308)      Liberal Democratic Party (119)      Komeito Party (21)      Communist Party (9)      Social Democratic Party (7)      Your Party (5)      People's New Party (3)      Independents / Others (8)
Meeting place
National Diet Building, Tokyo
Website
www.shugiin.go.jp

Japan

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Japan

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The House of Representatives (衆議院, Shūgiin^?) is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.

The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for four-year terms. Of these, 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation, and 300 are elected from single-member constituencies. 241 seats are required for majority. The House of Representatives is the more powerful of the two houses, able to override vetoes on bills imposed by the House of Councillors with a two-thirds majority. It can be dissolved by the Prime Minister at will, as it was by Taro Aso on July 21, 2009.

Contents 1 Right to vote and candidature 2 Differences between the Upper and Lower Houses 3 Latest election result 4 Election results for major parties since 1960 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Right to vote and candidature

• Japanese nationals aged 20 years and older may vote.
• Japanese nationals aged 25 years and older may run for office in the lower house.

[edit] Differences between the Upper and Lower Houses

The House of Representatives has several powers not given to the House of Councillors. If a bill is passed by the lower house (the House of Representatives) but is voted down by the upper house (the House of Councillors) the House of Representatives can override the decision of the by a two-thirds vote in the affirmative. However, in the case of treaties, the budget, and the selection of the prime minister, the House of Councillors can only delay passage, but not block the legislation. As a result, the House of Representatives is considered the more powerful house.

Members of the House of Representatives, who are elected to a maximum of four years, sit for a shorter term than members of the House of Councillors, who are elected to full six-year terms. The lower house can also be dissolved by the Prime Minister or the passage of a nonconfidence motion, while the House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. Thus the House of Representatives is considered to be more sensitive to public opinion, and is termed the "lower house".

The term "lower house" is also a legacy of the 1889 Meiji Constitution, when the House of Peers functioned as an aristocratic upper house in a format similar to the House of Lords in the Westminster system, or the Herrenhaus in the Prussian-based German government of the time.

[edit] Latest election result

e • d Summary of the 30 August 2009 Japanese House of Representatives election results^[1][2][3][4]

Alliances and parties		Local seats	+/−	Block seats	+/−	Votes[5]	%	PR block votes	%	+/−	Total seats	+/− (dissolution)	+/-
	Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō – 民主党	221	+169	87	+26	33,475,334	47.43%	29,844,799	42.41%	+11.4	308	+193	+195
	Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shamintō – 社民党	3	+2	4	−2	1,376,739	1.95%	3,006,160	4.27%	−1.2	7	±0	±0
	People's New Party (PNP) Kokuminshintō – 国民新党	3	+1	0	−2	730,570	1.04%	1,219,767	1.73%	±0.0	3	−1	−1
	New Party Nippon Shintō Nippon – 新党日本	1	±0	0	±0	220,223	0.31%	528,171	0,75%		1	+1	±0
	New Party Daichi Shintō Daichi – 新党大地	0	±0	1	±0	included in others		433,122	0.62%		1	±0	±0
	DPJ–SDP–PNP Coalition	228	+172	92	+22	35,802,866	50.73%	35,032,019	48.4%	+10.2	320	+193	+194
	Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jimintō – 自民党	64	−155	55	−22	27,301,982	38.68%	18,810,217	26.73%	−11.45	119	-181	−177
	New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō – 公明党	0	−8	21	−2	782,984	1.11%	8,054,007	11.45%	−1.80	21	-10	−10
	Japan Renaissance Party Kaikaku Club – 改革クラブ	0	—	0	—	36,650	0.05%	58,141	0.08%	—	0	−1	—
	LDP–NKP Coalition	64	−163	76	−24	28,121,613	39.84%	26,922,365	38.2%	−13.3	140	−192	−187
	Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Kyōsantō – 共産党	0	±0	9	±0	2,978,354	4.22%	4,943.886	7.03%	−0.22	9	±0	±0
	Your Party (YP) Minna no Tō – みんなの党	2	—	3	—	615,244	0.87%	3,005,199	4.27%	—	5	+1	+5
	Others	0	±0	0	±0	1,077,543	1.53%	466.786[6]	0.66%		0	±0	±0
	Independents[7]	6	-12	—	—	1,986,055	2.81%	—	—	—	6	±0	-12
Total (turnout 69.28%; PR block turnout 69.27%)		300	—	180	—	70,581,679	100.0%	70,370,255	100.0%	—	480	+2	—

[edit] Election results for major parties since 1960

e • d District vote for candidates by party

Parties	1960	1963	1967	1969	1972	1976	1979	1980	1983	1986	1990	1993	1996[8]	2000[9]	2003[10]	2005[11]	2009[12]
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō	57.6 %	54.7 %	48.8 %	47.6%	46.8 %	41.8%	44.6%	47.9%	48.9%	49.4%	46.1%	36.7%	38.6%	41.0%	43.9%	47.8%	38.6%
Japan Socialist Party (JSP) Nihon Shakaitō	27.6 %	29.0 %	27.9 %	21.4 %	21.9%	20.7%	19.7%	19.3%	19.5%	17.2%	24.4%	15.4%	-
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō	-												10.6%	27.6%	36.7%	36.4%	47.4%
New Frontier Party (NFP) Shinshintō	-											18.1% (*)	28.0%	-
(New) Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō	-		5.4 %	10.9 %	8.5%	11.0%	9.8%	9.0%	10.1%	9.4%	8.0%	8.1%	-	2.0%	1.5%	1.4%	1.1%
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō	2.9 %	4.0 %	4.8 %	6.8 %	10.5%	10.4%	10.4%	9.8%	9.3%	8.8%	8.0%	7.7%	12.6%	12.1%	8.1%	7.2%	4.2%
Liberal Party Jiyūtō	-													3.4%	-
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō	-												2.2%	3.8%	2.9%	1.5%	1.9%
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) Minshatō	8.8 %	7.4 %	7.4 %	7.7 %	7.0%	6.3%	6.8%	6.6%	7.3%	6.4%	4.8%	3.5%

(*) NFP-precursors Japan Renewal Party (Shinseitō) & Japan New Party (Nihon Shintō)

Note: Before the 1994 electoral reform all districts but one (Amami electoral district 1955-1990) were multi-member constituencies.

e • d Proportional block vote by party

Parties	1996[8]	2000[9]	2003[10]	2005[11]	2009[12]
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō	32.8%	28.3%	35.0%	38.1%	26.7%
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō	16.1%	25.2%	37.4%	31.0%	42.4%
New Frontier Party (NFP) Shinshintō	28.0%	-
New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō	-	13.0%	14.8%	13.3%	11.4%
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō	13.1%	11.2%	7.8%	7.2%	7.0%
Liberal Party Jiyūtō	-	11.0%	-
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō	6.4%	9.4%	5.1%	5.5%	4.2%

[edit] See also

• List of Districts of the House of Representatives of Japan
• List of members of the Diet of Japan

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• House of Representatives Website (in English) – Official site of the House of Representatives
• House of Representatives Internet TV- Official site