| 3. Elections |
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In March 1994, a new electoral system
was introduced for the House of Representatives following the
passage of the long-debated political reform laws in the Diet.
It consists of a combination of single-seat constituencies and
proportional representation and was intended to rectify problems
arising under the old system of multi-seat constituencies.
Under the new system, the number of seats in the lower house
was reduced from 511 to 500. It also introduced both single-seat
constituencies and proportional representation constituencies
for the lower house elections (300 seats from single-seat constituencies,
200 seats from proportional representation constituencies).
After that, the number of seats in the lower house was reduced
again to 480, with 300 seats allotted to the single-seat constituencies
and 180 to the proportional representation constituencies, which
are demarcated by dividing the country into 11 blocs. In single-seat
constituencies, voters select the individual candidate, while
in the proportional representation blocs they vote for a party.
In the single-seat districts, the candidate with the largest
number of votes wins. Winners of the proportional representation
contest are selected from ranked lists of candidates for each
bloc that are submitted ahead of time by each party; votes are
tallied by bloc, and winners are apportioned among the parties
on the basis of the percentage of the vote each party has obtained.
Following revision of the law in October 2000, the number of
upper house seats was reduced from 252 to 242. (Since regular
upper house elections take place for half of the seats every
three years, the number of seats contested in the July 2001
election was reduced by 5—that is, half of the total decrease.
Therefore, the upper house has 247 seats for the three years
until the next election in 2004.) Of the total number of seats,
96 are allotted to a single nationwide proportional representation
constituency, in which voters can vote for either a party or
an individual candidate, and 146 allotted to electoral districts,
in which voters opt for specific candidates.
Citizens over 25 years of age are eligible for election to the
House of Representatives, and those 30 and over may be elected
to the House of Councillors. Japan has universal adult suffrage,
with all men and women of 20 years and over being eligible to
vote in all elections. Universal male suffrage was achieved
in 1925. Women were first granted the right to vote in late
1945 after World War II.
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