House of Councillors elections were held in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on July 21, 2013 to elect the members of the upper house of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

. In the previous elections in 2010, the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

(DPJ) remained the largest party, but the DPJ-led ruling coalition lost its majority. The House of Councillors is elected by halves to six year terms. In 2013, the class of Councillors elected in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

was up.

Background

Japan had been in a "twisted parliament" (nejire kokkai, ねじれ国会) situation since 2007, in which opposite parties/coalitions control the houses of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

(government lower house majority, opposition upper house majority), leading to political paralysis on a number of issues.

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

led the Liberal Democratic Party to victory in the December 2012 general election after several years in the opposition. In campaigning to win control of the House of Councillors, Abe sought to resolve the "twisted parliament" problem for the next three years. Just prior to the election, the U.S. dollar fell against the yen on expectations of more momentum for Prime Minister

's aggressive monetary easing to fight deflation and boost growth for the export-dominant

economy of Japan The economy of Japan is a highly developed social market economy, often referred to as an East Asian model. It is the third-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is the world's secon ...

. Abe's LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, were tipped to win a majority and end years of parliamentary stalemate so as to enable economic reforms. However, his critics suggested that a strong mandate could even make Abe complacent.

Opinion polling

In the run-up to the election, various organizations conducted

opinion polls An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

to gauge voting intentions for the 48 proportional seats. Polls are listed in chronological order, showing the oldest first. Note: U/O - Undecided or other ; Cabinet approval and disapproval ratings 2nd_and_3rd_Abe_Cabinet_Approval_Disapproval_Ratings

Pre-election composition

''Note: Composition as of July 13, 2013.''

Results

The ruling coalition won 76 seats and now holds a total of 135 seats in the House of Councillors ending the divided Diet. Of the 31 single-member districts the LDP won 29; only in Iwate and Okinawa, opposition incumbents could hold their seats. The ten two-member districts elected ten LDP and ten opposition members; in several prefectures the second seat went to parties other than the DPJ: In Hyōgo to the JRP, in Miyagi to YP and in Kyōto to the JCP. Twelve of the 22 seats in three-, four and five-member districts went to LDP and Kōmeitō candidates. In the nationwide proportional race, the coalition parties won 25 seats, the opposition parties 23.

Summary

Differences between party and parliamentary group membership in the post-election opening session: Two independents caucus with the NRP, President Masaaki Yamazaki (LDP – Fukui), Vice-President Azuma Koshiishi (DPJ – Yamanashi) and Keiko Itokazu (OSMP – Okinawa) are independents in terms of parliamentary group.

Results by electoral district

Abbreviations and translations used in this table for (nominating – endorsing) parties: * L – Liberal Democratic Party * D –

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

* K –

Kōmeitō , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

* C -

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

* S –

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

* I – Independent * Ishin –

Japan Restoration Association The , also referred to in English as the Japan Restoration Association, was a Japanese political party. It was launched on 12 September 2012 and gained official recognition on 28 September 2012. The party grew from the regional Osaka Restoration ...

''(Nippon Ishin no Kai)'' * Minna –

Your Party is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its d ...

''(Minna no Tō)'' * PLP –

People's Life Party The was a list of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan that merged with the Democratic Party for the People on 26 April 2019. It had 2 out of the 475 seats in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives, and 3 ...

* Daichi –

New Party Daichi The New Party Daichi (新党大地 ''Shintō Daichi'') is a Japanese political party. The party works based on jurisdiction and administrative divisions. The party's leader is Muneo Suzuki, a former Representative for the Liberal Democratic P ...

* Mikaze –

Green Wind Green Wind was a left-wing political party in Japan. It opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and October 2012 Consumption Tax Hike. It was founded as a parliamentary group in July 2012, and as a political party in November 2012 when Representati ...

''(Midori no kaze)'' * Midori –

Greens Japan The is an established national green party in Japan. After the electoral success of Green activist Ryuhei Kawada in the 2007 House of Councillors election, the local green political network Rainbow and Greens had reportedly decided to disso ...

''(Midori no tō gurīnzu japan)'' * OS – Okinawa Socialist Mass Party * NRP –

New Renaissance Party The was a minor political party in Japan. History The NRP is the successor to the Reform Club (改革クラブ), founded by Hideo Watanabe and Hiroyuki Arai in August 2008. In April 2010, Yōichi Masuzoe, a former Minister of Health, Labour ...

* HRP –

Happiness Realization Party The , abbreviated as Kōfuku (), is a Japanese political party founded by Ryuho Okawa on 23 May 2009 "in order to offer the Japanese people a third option" for the elections of August 2009. The HRP is the political wing of the conservative Happy ...

* LF/TPJ (in reference to vacant seats) –

People's Life First was a short-lived political party in Japan. It had 37 out of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives, and 12 in the 242-member House of Councillors. On 28 November 2012, the party merged into Governor of Shiga Yukiko Kada's Japan Future Par ...

(LF) members of the House of Councillors who resigned from or lost their seats in late 2012 to contest the House of Representatives election as candidates for the

Tomorrow Party of Japan , also known as the Japan Future Party, was a Japanese political party, formed on 28 November 2012 by Governor of Shiga Prefecture Yukiko Kada and dissolved in May 2013. Kada created the party as an alternative to the then-ruling Democratic P ...

(TPJ)

References

External links

*realpolitics.jp
Long-term monthly cabinet and party approval rates, overview of polls from various news organizations
*

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

Results
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Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

Results
*

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications The is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Central Common Government Of ...

Full results
(pdf, 88 pages) {{Japanese elections

2013 elections in Japan House of Councillors (Japan) elections July 2013 events in Japan