922 candidates to run for 480 seats in upcoming general election

Monday 08th June, 07:15 AM JST

TOKYO —

A total of 922 people are expected to run as of Sunday for the upcoming House of Representatives election, where all its 480 seats are up for grabs, according to a Kyodo News survey.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan will face off in 258 of the 300 single-seat constituencies across Japan, the survey showed, but both of them fall short of the chance of winning the 241 seats needed to secure the majority and hence the reins of power.

The focus is now on which of the two major parties will take the largest share of seats in the first general election since Sept 11, 2005, election experts say.

The general election, which must be held by the fall, is widely expected to be a choice on who the voters trust with the government—Prime Minister Taro Aso’s LDP and the DPJ led by Yukio Hatoyama.

Aso is seen as likely to dissolve the powerful lower chamber for an election during the current Diet session through July 28, which has been extended for 55 days.

Of the 922 expected candidates—of whom 138 are women—834 are planning to vie for the 300 seats at stake in single-seat districts, whereas the remaining 180 seats will be filled through a proportional-representation system.

The LDP is poised to field 295 contenders in single-seat districts, including those where an authorized candidate has not yet been named.

The DPJ, meanwhile, has come up with 264 aspirants, but has yet to announce its candidates for Tokyo’s No. 12 district, where the leader of the New Komeito party, the LDP’s ruling coalition partner, will run, and section No. 8 of Hyogo Prefecture.

In about 30 single-seat constituencies in which the DPJ will not field candidates, it will promote teaming up with other opposition parties.

The LDP currently has an overwhelming 303 seats in the lower house, followed by the DPJ with 111, New Komeito with 31, the Japanese Communist Party with nine, the Social Democratic Party’s seven and the People’s New Party with five. All the members’ four-year terms expire on Sept 10.

On the New Komeito ticket, eight candidates are planning to bid in single-seat constituencies, while among small opposition parties, the JCP plans to set up 149 candidates, the SDP 31 and the PNP 10.

One candidate each is expected from the New Party Nippon, whose only parliamentarian is in the upper house, and the Japan Renaissance Party, a party with one lower house member that was set up last August.

Twenty-nine people will be running from various other tiny parties and 46 as independents.

As for the 180 proportional-representation seats up for grabs in 11 regional blocks, both New Komeito and the JCP will field candidates separately from single-seat districts for all the blocks, and the SDP and the PNP for five blocks each.

Although candidates can come under both electoral systems, the DPJ basically has no plans to allow members who do not represent a single-seat constituency to rank high on its proportional-representation lists.

The LDP also plans to narrow down such candidates on its lists, but must keep the system in five constituencies with the old rule that, named after a system in Costa Rica, two LDP candidates—mostly incumbents—bid in turn in a single-seat district and on a proportional-representation list, party officials said.

The party ballooned in the 2005 election, thanks to a dramatic strategy taken by the popular then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and has some first-term members left unable to find a constituency to run in for the next election.

Taizo Sugimura, one of the LDP incumbents first elected four years ago, said Thursday he decided not to run in the next election after considering running as an independent as the party has not endorsed him.

Among very small parties, the sole incumbent of the New Party Daichi will file his candidacy in a proportional-representation block in Hokkaido, and the recently formed Happiness Realization Party, set up in late May on the backing of a religious sect, is preparing to field candidates under both electoral systems.

› Login to comment

14 Comments

some14some at 07:25 AM JST - 8th June

922 candidates to run for 480 seats...is it record high/low? Musical Chairs will help save bil of Yens instead of going for election in this homogeneous island.
tasha77 at 09:08 AM JST - 8th June

I hope all the trucks with loud speakers don't hawk at the same spot at the same time!!!!!!!!!!
soldave at 10:01 AM JST - 8th June

Doesn't that seem low for a number of candidates running? That's only just over 2 per seat, unless my maths is very wrong (quite possible).
gogogo at 11:27 AM JST - 8th June

I love waving to the voting trucks knowing I can't vote.
soldave at 11:39 AM JST - 8th June

gogogo - I do that to the blacked out vans or the anti-military/gaijin demonstrations. Always makes them look confuised for a few seconds.
beavis at 12:11 PM JST - 8th June
@gogogo/soldave
```
That is too funny.  Gotta try that soon.
```
DeepAir65 at 05:17 PM JST - 8th June

is that all?
sakurasuki at 05:38 PM JST - 8th June

Too many scandals during this term, it's time to change "yes you can", ganbarre!
rajakumar at 05:41 PM JST - 8th June

Way to go japan and elections 2009.

Choose the best for japan,japan's future will be better,when the best are in the Diet after elections.
jonnyboy at 05:44 PM JST - 8th June

Way to go japan and elections 2009. Choose the best for japan,japan's future will be better,when the best are in the Diet after elections.

nothing will change
XXXXX at 02:43 AM JST - 9th June

that is so amaaaaaaazing
tasha77 at 09:45 AM JST - 9th June

Funny how japanese people get to vote in the general elections but they have no choice who their prime minister will be!!!!!
stirfry at 04:44 PM JST - 12th June

can they do it quietly ?
Himajin at 05:39 PM JST - 12th June

Hahahaaa! We can only hope!