選挙にあらわれた政治意識

京都府第一区の場合

抄録

This paper is a report on the field-survey of the voting behaviour and the political consciousness of the citizens of Kyoto, the First Constituency of Kyoto Prefecture, expressed in the 30th General Election of the members of the House of Representatives which took place on 21st November, 1963.
As is well-known, compared with the previous Election which was fought with the U. S. -Japanese Security Treaty as the centre of political issues, the points at issue were not clear in the last, 30th Election, and the reason for the Election not being sufficiently understood among the nation, the campaign remained on a low key from the beginning to the end. Correspondingly, the voting ratio in the whole country was 71.1%, which was the second lowest since the end of the Second World War, the first being 67.9% in 1947.
In the city of Kyoto, which forms the First Constituency of Kyoto Prefecture, 58.2% was recorded, which is lower than the average of the whole country by 12.9% and is within the lowest-voting group in the country.
The result was the elections of two Liberal-Democrats (Ministerial Conservatives), one Communist, one Socialist and one Democratic-Socialist. Therefore in the new political map of Kyoto, there are two Conservatives against three “Reformists, ” the Conservatives having obtained 42% of the votes cast and the Reformist parties 58%. The Communist candidate came out at the top of the members elected. Thus, the Reformist forces are strong in this constituency. The reformist tendency in the political climate of Kyoto has long been pointed out, together with the emphasis of the classical character of this city, especially in connection with its cultural characteristics.
Are we to regard this Reformist tendency of Kyoto as being the same as the tenacious strength of the Reformists in large cities, such as Tokyo and Osaka, where the organized forces, with workmen in large and small factories and white-collars as the centre, constitute their support? Or, is there any particular phenomenon in the case of Kyoto, peculiar to it and different from other regions?
Further, how far are the citizens of Kyoto conscious of objective recognition of circumstances and subjective selection of value which form the two criteria of political consideration imposed upon the modern “citizens”? Upon these premises and bearing these problems in view, the writers have arranged into order the relation between voting behaviour and political consciousness based on various materials. These materials specifically include those of voting precentage and abstention, choice ox candidates —its reason and motives— points at issue, and so on. The paper lays stress on the description of the actual reality of Kyoto, and does not adopt the method of abstracting a general proposition out of the pattern in this case.