Analysis of Voting in the 2017 General Election in Japan

Abstract

This paper summarizes an analysis of voting in the general election for members of the House of Representatives held in October 2017 in Japan. Through systematically organizing the basic indicators of voter turnout, percentages of invalid votes, numbers of candidates, numbers of winners, absolute percentages of votes won, and margins of defeat, it elucidates (i) the degree of admixture of stable voting patterns in common with past elections and distinctive voting patterns unique to the 2017 general election, and (ii) the nature of multilayered competition between and within political parties. Since it is conceivable that the process from the dissolution of the House of Representatives until voting had a major impact on the results of this election, this paper also discusses the kinds of thinking on which the leaders of individual political parties based their election strategies. In addition, this paper considers the political context of differentiation of individual constituencies by small and medium-sized parties, which increasingly is coming to be regarded highly in recent years as an election tactic under the electoral system combining the single-seat constituency system with proportional representation.