The Second Election for the House of Councilors and the Liberal Party

Abstract

The Green Breeze Society (Ryokuhukai), formed by the Councilors without affiliation to any particular political party, was the largest faction in the House of Councilors at the time of its establishment. However, it gradually declined to the point at which, after a second election, the majority of Councilors had affiliated with political parties. The existing literature regarding this gradual change focuses on the process of the demise of the Green Breeze Society. This paper, in contrast, pays particular attention to the Liberal Party's (Jiyuto) role in promoting affiliation by the Councilors with the Party. Specifically, this paper sheds light on a vote-gathering base and discusses why the Liberal Party won the second election in a nation-wide constituency.
This paper concludes by identifying the following two reasons of the Liberal Party's advance. First, the Liberal Party was able to recruit candidates from among those who had national support bases, such as senior bureaucrats and CEOs, and to mobilize broad supporter bases. Second, the Party enabled its prefectural branches to support their local candidates and translated such local support to an election result at the national level.