1969 Japanese general election

1969 Japanese general election

← 1967 27 December 1969 1972 →
All 486 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan 244 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	68.51% (5.47pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Eisaku Satō Tomomi Narita Yoshikatsu Takeiri Party Liberal Democratic Socialist Kōmeitō Leader since 1 December 1964 30 November 1968 13 February 1967 Leader's seat Yamaguchi–2nd Kagawa–1st Tokyo–10th Last election 48.80%, 277 seats 27.88%, 140 seats 5.38%, 25 seats Seats won 288 90 47 Seat change 11 50 22 Popular vote 22,381,570 10,074,101 5,124,666 Percentage 47.63% 21.44% 10.91% Swing 1.17pp 6.44pp 5.53pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Eiichi Nishimura Kenji Miyamoto Party Democratic Socialist Communist Leader since June 1967 1 August 1958 Leader's seat Osaka–5th Did not contest Last election 7.40%, 30 seats 4.76%, 5 seats Seats won 31 14 Seat change 1 9 Popular vote 3,636,591 3,199,032 Percentage 7.74% 6.81% Swing 0.34pp 2.05pp
Prime Minister before election Eisaku Satō Liberal Democratic Prime Minister after election Eisaku Satō Liberal Democratic

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General elections were held in Japan on 27 December 1969. The result was a victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, which won 288 of the 486 seats.^[1] Voter turnout was 68.51%, the lowest since 1947. This was the first general election in Japanese history in which candidates were allowed limited use of television as a means for campaigning, something that had been formerly proscribed under Japan's strict election campaign laws.^[2]

The main national policy issue at the time was the possibility of reverting Okinawa, which had been under American military occupation since the end of World War II, back over to Japanese control. Nonetheless, as is characteristic of Japanese elections, voters were more interested in pocket book issues, or "livelihood problems" (kurashi mondai), over pressing national and foreign policy questions. The election was marked by relative apathy, especially among young people in urban areas, with voter turnout in Tokyo being the lowest in the country, dropping from 63.12% in the last election to 56.35% in the 1969 election.^[2]

Moreover, old districting laws from the pre-war period were still in effect, and as urban areas increased in population, individual rural voters (who were heavily skewed towards the LDP) were disproportionately more powerful than the average individual urban voter. In any event, the actual popular vote of the LDP had been continuously sliding down since its formation, and the LDP's increase in seats was more attributable to its competent endorsement of only a limited number of local seat candidates when compared to the Japan Socialist Party, which ran too many candidates and thus split votes at a disastrous rate. Ironically, what little increase in support the JSP saw was found primarily in rural areas rather than urban areas, the latter of which were traditionally seen as the base of the JSP's support; the young Kōmeitō and reformed Japanese Communist Party had been gradually making inroads into urban areas, further eating away at the JSP's strength.^[2]