14. Japanese Government: The procedure of Elections.

Diet members are elected to their positions by the people. At the time of an election, ballot papers are sent out to every eligible voter over the age of twenty in each city, town and village. When a person reaches the age of twenty-five, they earn the right of eligibility for election.

Members of the Lower House are elected for a term of four years, however, to date there has been a dissolution of the Diet every two and a half years, on average, leading to an election. Members of the Upper House serve a six-year term, with an election of half of the members every three years.

The Japanese political system has three types of elections: general elections to the House of Representatives held every four years (unless the lower house is dissolved earlier), elections to the House of Councillors held every three years to choose one-half of its members, and local elections held every four years for offices in prefectures, cities, and villages. Elections are supervised by election committees at each administrative level under the general direction of the Central Election Administration Committee. The minimum voting age for persons of both sexes is twenty years; voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot. For those seeking office, there are two sets of age requirements: twenty-five years of age for admission to the House of Representatives and most local offices, and thirty years of age for admission to the House of Councillors and the prefectural governorship.

In the general election of February 18, 1990, the thirty-ninth held since the first parliamentary election in July 1890, the 130 multiple-seat election districts of the House of Representatives returned two to five representatives, depending on their population. There were two exceptions: the district encompassing the Amami Islands, south of Kyushu, elected only one representative to the lower house, while the first district of Hokkaido elected six. Successful candidates were those who won at least the fifth largest aggregation of votes in a five-person district, the fourth largest in a four-person district, and so on. Voters cast their ballots for only one candidate. Competition for lower house seats in the February 1990 general election varied from district to district. Tokyo's fourth district had seventeen candidates running for five seats, while the second district in Ibaraki Prefecture had only four persons running for three seats. In Okinawa Prefecture's single five-seat district, there were only six candidates.

In House of Councillors elections, the prefectural constituencies elect from two to eight councillors, depending on their population. Each voter casts one ballot for a prefectural candidate and a second one for a party in the national constituency system.

15. Japanese Government: Transfer of Political Power.

In 1993, the Hosokawa Administration ended the long 40 years of single-party rule of the Liberal Democratic Party, ushering (вводить) a new era of coalition government into the world of Japanese politics. In order to build a democratic society, it may be necessary to have various ideas and values, rather than a single ideology. Perhaps this might be a way of interpreting these events

A general election in Japan was held on August 30, 2009,[1] for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

In the election, the opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party). The LDP had ruled Japan since its formation in 1955, except for an 11-month period from 1993 to 1994.[2] The DPJ received 42.4% of the proportional block votes cast, taking 308 seats to only 119 for the LDP (26.7% of the block votes).[3][4][5]

Under Japan's constitution, this result virtually assured DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama would be the next Prime Minister of Japan. He was formally named to the post on September 16, 2009.[6]

Prime Minister Taro Aso conceded late on the night of August 30, 2009 that the LDP had lost control of the government, and announced his resignation as party president.[7] A leadership election was held on September 28, 2009.

The election marked the worst defeat for a governing party in modern Japanese history. It was only the second time the LDP has lost a general election, and was the first time since its formation that the LDP lost its status as the largest party in the lower house.