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; Const. votes) 59.62% (New; PR votes)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ryutaro Hashimoto Ichirō Ozawa Naoto Kan Yukio Hatoyama Party LDP New Frontier Democratic Last election 223 seats Did not exist Did not exist Seats won 239 156 52 Seat change 16 New New Constituency vote 21,836,096 15,812,326 6,001,666 % and swing 38.63% (2.01pp) 27.97% (New) 10.62% (New) Regional vote 18,205,955 15,580,053 8,949,190 % and swing 32.76% (New) 28.04% (New) 16.10% (New)   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Tetsuzo Fuwa Takako Doi Party JCP Social Democratic Last election 15 seats 70 seats[a] Seats won 26 15 Seat change 11 55 Constituency vote 7,096,766 1,240,649 % and swing 12.55% (4.85pp) 2.19% (13.24pp) Regional vote 7,268,743 3,547,240 % and swing 13.08% (New) 6.38% (New)
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
Prime Minister before election Ryutaro Hashimoto LDP Elected Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto LDP

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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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