Search - proportional-representation

 
 
JAPAN
Aug 3, 1999

New Komeito rails against Diet seats bill

New Komeito chief Takenori Kanzaki warned Tuesday that further Diet deliberations on a bill aimed at cutting 50 proportional representation seats from the Lower House would "seriously affect" his party's upcoming talks on entering the Liberal Democratic Party's ruling coalition.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 1999

Panel deliberating bill to cut 50 Diet seats

The Lower House Special Committee on Political Ethics and the Election Law on Tuesday began deliberating a bill aimed at eliminating 50 Lower House seats elected by proportional representation.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

LDP may have to walk political tightrope

Staff writers
JAPAN
Jun 18, 1999

Bill aims to cut 50 Lower House seats

The Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party have agreed to submit a bill to the Diet aimed at cutting 50 Lower House seats elected by proportional representation as early as Wednesday, party officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 1999

Fukaya to keep Tokyo seat, give up by-election run

Takashi Fukaya, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's decision-making Executive Council, formally declared Monday he will not run in a House of Representatives by-election in Tokyo slated for April 11.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 1999

New Komeito eyed as coalition takes first test

The regular 150-day Diet session that convenes today will test the effectiveness of the newly launched coalition between Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in shaping the nation's politics.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 1998

LDP suffers stunning defeat as disgruntled voters speak up

The Liberal Democratic Party suffered a stunning defeat in Sunday's Upper House election as voters issued an apparent no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's economic policies.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 1997

Ozawa fails to bring Komei membership into Shinshinto fold

Shinshinto President Ichiro Ozawa finally abandoned efforts Friday to persuade Komei leader Tomio Fujii to drop the party's plan to field its own proportional representation candidates in next summer's Upper House election.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1997

Hosokawa denies taking money from Tomobe

NARITA, Chiba Pref. -- Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on Feb. 5 flatly denied an allegation that he received money from Tatsuo Tomobe, a House of Councilors member who is under arrest on suspicion of fraud, to ensure Tomobe was elected in the July 1995 Upper House election.
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2015

Upper House vote reform falls short

The recent changes to the Upper House districts fall far short of addressing in a meaningful way the disparity in vote values.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2010

Democratic sidebar to U.K. polls

Britain is on the brink of its biggest political upheaval in a century. The general election that takes place this week has become an unofficial referendum on the electoral system itself. Britain's first-past-the-post (FPTP) system discriminates against small parties, wastes votes and encourages politicians...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2019

Eliminate the 'impermissible' gap in vote values

All political parties should work together to explore ways to narrow the disparity in the value of votes within a permissible range.
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2014

The skewed value of votes

Lawmakers must set aside their partisan interests and act fast to narrow the wide gap in the value of votes between rural and urban constituencies.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2004

A place for 'judicial positivism'

In a representative democracy, the value of one vote is supposed to be more or less equal. In the 2001 Upper House election, however, one vote in rural districts carried much greater weight than it did in urban districts; in an extreme case, one ballot in Tottori Prefecture was worth 5.06 ballots in...
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 11, 2022

Japan's opposition parties ponder leadership after election drubbing

Any celebrations of relief for CDP, or success for Nippon Ishin, may be tempered by concerns over who will take over the reins in the years ahead.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 7, 2022

Japan’s largest opposition party faces crucial test in upcoming Upper House poll

For the CDP, success or failure in the vote scheduled to take place in the summer is likely to determine the post-election futures of not only its new leader but the party itself.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Two Cabinet ministers lose, dealing blow to Mori

Two Cabinet ministers seem to have lost their seats in Sunday's general election, dealing a blow to the government led by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Coalition wins a stable majority

The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate suffered a major setback but managed to secure a comfortable majority in the Lower House in Sunday's general election.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 1999

Komeito to champion suffrage for ethnic minorities

New Komeito will submit a bill to the Diet to give permanent foreign residents suffrage in local elections, even if it fails to secure collective support from the Liberal Democratic Party, a party executive said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 1999

No progress but Obuchi, Ozawa continue talks

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa met Monday and confirmed they will "make efforts till the last minute to realize their policy agreement."
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2014

Lower House electoral reform

A panel of experts has begun discussions on addressing Lower House electoral reforms, particularly the vote-value disparity between rural and urban districts, after talks among the ruling and opposition parties failed.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2013

Keep minority views alive

The Liberal Democratic Party discloses a flawed proposal to alter the electoral system toward less vote-value disparity between Lower House districts.
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2010

By-election triumph for LDP

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura of the Liberal Democratic Party Sunday defeated a Democratic Party of Japan candidate in a Lower House by-election in Hokkaido's No. 5 constituency. The DPJ's defeat in the first Diet-level election since the inauguration of the Kan...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2001

Italian lessons for Japan

Japan's political landscape could change dramatically, depending on the outcome of July's Upper House elections. Mikio Aoki, a Liberal Democratic leader in the Upper House, says the three ruling coalition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- must win...
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2023

Would gender quotas for lawmakers work in Japan?

Experts both at home and abroad say quotas are the fastest way to achieve gender equality in politics, but there are many factors at play, both legally and culturally.
A man votes in the Lower House election at a polling station set up at a school  in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Voters head to the polls across Japan in crucial test for ruling coalition

Recent polls have indicated the coalition might lose its majority in the powerful Lower House of parliament for the first time in 15 years.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 26, 2023

Has the funding scandal doomed the Abe faction?

With criminal investigations under way, there is impetus for the younger generation of the Abe faction members to break away and form a rebranded group.

Longform

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