1996 Japanese general election

1996 Japanese general election

← 1993 20 October 1996 2000 →
All 500 seats in the House of Representatives 251 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	59.65% (7.61pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ryutaro Hashimoto Ichirō Ozawa Naoto Kan Party Liberal Democratic New Frontier Democratic Last election 36.6%, 223 seats 30.5%, 160 seats[a] – Seats won 239 156 52 Seat change 16 4 New Popular vote 18,205,955 15,580,053 8,949,190 Percentage 32.7% 28.0% 16.1% Swing 3.9pp 2.5pp New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Tetsuzo Fuwa Takako Doi Shoichi Ide Party Communist Social Democratic New Party Sakigake Last election 7.7%, 15 seats – 2.6%, 13 seats Seats won 26 15 2 Seat change 11 New 11 Popular vote 7,268,743 3,547,240 582,093 Percentage 13.1% 6.4% 1.1% Swing 5.4pp New 1.5pp   Seventh party   Leader Teiko Sasano Party Democratic Reform Last election – Seats won 1 Seat change New Popular vote 18,884 Percentage 0.1% Swing New
districts and PR districts, shaded according to winners' vote strength.
Prime Minister before election Ryutaro Hashimoto Liberal Democratic Prime Minister after election Ryutaro Hashimoto Liberal Democratic

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General elections were held in Japan on 20 October 1996. A coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Party Sakigake and the Social Democratic Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of the LDP won the most seats.

These were the first elections held after the 1994 electoral reforms. Previously, each district was represented by multiple members, sometimes from the same party, causing intra-party competition. Under the new rules, each district nominated one representative, elected using first-past-the-post voting. A separate party-list vote was introduced for voters to choose their favored party in addition to votes for individual candidates, as a way to more accurately approximate the seats in the House of Representatives of Japan to the actual party votes, in an effort to achieve more proportional representation.
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