General elections were held in

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on 22 June 1980. They were the result of a vote of no confidence brought by the

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

(JSP) on 16 May regarding corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the

House of Representatives of Japan The is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by and of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives ha ...

(lower house) to withdraw its backing from the government. Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion. The government was defeated by 56 votes in total of 243 and resigned. For the first time, elections for both houses of the Diet were called in June 1980. During the election, Prime Minister

Masayoshi Ōhira was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1978 to 1980. Ōhira's time in office was cut short when he died in office; he remains the most recent Japanese Prime Minister to die in office. Early life Masayoshi Ōhira was bo ...

, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party died during the campaign. Ōhira had expected the vote of no confidence to fail, and was visibly shaken when it passed by a margin of 243–187. Sixty-nine members of his own LDP, including Fukuda, abstained. Given the choice of resigning or calling new elections, Ōhira chose the latter and began campaigning for LDP candidates. He was hospitalized for exhaustion on 31 May and died of a massive heart attack 12 days later. Chief Cabinet Secretary

Masayoshi Ito was a Japanese political figure. He served as acting prime minister of Japan in 1980 after the sudden death of Masayoshi Ōhira. He then served as foreign minister of Japan from 1980 to 1981. Early life Ito was born on 15 December 1913 in Ai ...

acted in Ōhira's place as deputy after his death. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below.

Yoshio Sakurauchi was a Japanese politician and a significant member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He was speaker of the House of Representatives of which he was a member for 53 years. Early life and education Sakurauchi was born in Tokyo on 8 May 1912 ...

, the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of LDP, led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the "sympathy vote" generated by Ōhira's death. The Prime Minister was succeeded by

Zenkō Suzuki was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1980 to 1982. He was the last prime minister to have been born in the Meiji era. Early life and education Suzuki was born on 11 January 1911, Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, the eldest ...

after the election.

Results

By prefecture

Notes

References

*Mahendra Prakash (2004), ''Coalition Experience in Japanese Politics: 1993-2003'',

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: JNU

{{Japanese elections

General elections in Japan

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Japanese general election Election and referendum articles with incomplete results