1989 Japanese House of Councillors election

← 1986 23 July 1989 1992 →
126 of the 252 seats in theHouse of Councillors 127 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	65.01% (6.31pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sōsuke Uno Takako Doi Koshiro Ishida Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō Last election 140 seats 41 seats 24 seats Seats won 36 46 10 Seats after 109 66 20 Seat change 31 25 4 Constituency vote 17,466,406 15,009,451 2,900,947 % and swing 30.70% (14.37pp) 26.38% (4.87pp) 5.10% (0.70pp) National vote 15,343,455 19,688,252 6,097,971 % and swing 27.32% (11.26pp) 35.05% (17.85pp) 10.86% (2.11pp)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kenji Miyamoto Eiichi Nagasue Party JCP Rengo no Kai Democratic Socialist Last election 16 seats Did not exist 12 seats, 6.9% Seats won 5 11 3 Seats after 14 12 8 Seat change 2 New 4 Constituency vote 5,012,424 3,878,783 2,066,533 % and swing 8.81% (2.61pp) 6.82% (New) 3.63% (0.93pp) National vote 3,954,408 — 2,726,419 % and swing 7.04% (2.43pp) 4.85% (2.02pp)
Results of the election, showing the winning candidates in each prefecture and thenational PR block.
President of the House of Councillors before election Yoshihiro Tsuchiya LDP ElectedPresident of the House of Councillors Yoshihiro Tsuchiya LDP

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 23 July 1989.

There were several controversial issues dominating the pre-election atmosphere, all of which reflected negatively on the ruling LDP. The most important, according to most polls, was the introduction of an unpopular 3%consumption tax law which had been forced through the Diet by Prime MinisterNoboru Takeshita despite boycotts by the opposition parties, an act which hurt the LDP's image with the public. A second issue was the infamousRecruit scandal, which induced the resignation of Takeshita and his cabinet members and left a major stain on the LDP's integrity to the public. There was also resistance to the LDP's gradual adoption ofimport liberalisation offood products, which lost the party their traditional rural voters resentful of farm imports.^[1] Even more, there was incumbent Prime MinisterSōsuke Uno's sex scandal which had come to light only a month earlier.

The result of all of this negative feeling towards the LDP was an unprecedented victory for theJapan Socialist Party (JSP), roughly doubling its share of the popular vote when compared to the previous House of Councillors elections, and being the only major pre-existing party to see a net increase in its share of the popular vote; the other opposition parties, which had more success in the past while the JSP stagnated, saw net decreases in both popular votes as well as seat numbers. Moreover, although theJapanese Communist Party has historically contributed tovote splitting by fielding candidates in every district, the overall decline in support for the JCP is thought to have helped jointly-backed opposition candidates in this election. In any event, the JSP would cooperate with the other opposition parties in order to form a majority coalition over a minority LDP, a historical first for the House of Councillors.^[2]

Meanwhile, the LDP lost the popular vote in an election for the first time in its history, and the only one-seat districts won by the LDP wereToyama,Shiga, andWakayama. The LDP's losses were strongest insingle-member constituencies, but less strongly felt inmulti-member constituencies, no doubt partly due to the above-mentioned relative lack of vote splitting in this election. After this election, the LDP designated as its new leaderToshiki Kaifu, who belonged to the same historical faction asTakeo Miki, and who, like Miki, was reform-minded; ironically, Kaifu later defected from the LDP in the mid-1990s in order to join the opposition, although he eventually returned to the LDP in the 21st century.^[2]

Party		National			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Not up	Won	Total after	+/–
	Japan Socialist Party	19,688,252	35.05	20	15,009,451	26.38	26	20	46	66	+25
	Liberal Democratic Party	15,343,455	27.32	15	17,466,406	30.70	21	73	36	109	–31
	Kōmeitō	6,097,971	10.86	6	2,900,947	5.10	4	10	10	20	–4
	Japanese Communist Party	3,954,408	7.04	4	5,012,424	8.81	1	9	5	14	–2
	Democratic Socialist Party	2,726,419	4.85	2	2,066,533	3.63	1	5	3	8	–4
	Dainiin Club	1,250,022	2.23	1				1	1	2	–1
	Tax Affairs Party	1,179,939	2.10	1	889,633	1.56	1	1	2	3	+1
	Sports and Peace Party	993,989	1.77	1				0	1	1	New
	Rengo no Kai				3,878,783	6.82	11	1	11	12	New
	Other parties	4,936,873	8.79	0	2,312,733	4.06	1	1	1	2	–
	Independents				7,362,723	12.94	10	5	10	15	+8
Total		56,171,328	100.00	50	56,899,633	100.00	76	126	126	252	0
Valid votes		56,171,328	96.13		56,899,633	97.35
Invalid/blank votes		2,262,734	3.87		1,546,732	2.65
Total votes		58,434,062	100.00		58,446,365	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		89,891,358	65.01		89,891,358	65.02
Source:Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,[3][4]National Diet

• About Japan Series (1999),Changing Japanese Politics, No. 24,Tokyo: Foreign Press Center.
• Mahendra Prakash (2004),Coalition Experience in Japanese Politics: 1993-2003,New Delhi:JNU[1].

• 1989 elections in Asia
• 1989 elections in Japan
• House of Councillors (Japan) elections
• July 1989 in Japan

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2019
• Election and referendum articles with incomplete results