1979 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 7 October 1979 to elect the 511 members of the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Ōhira Masayoshi's announcement that a consumption (sales) tax would be imposed was a hot-button issue in the run-up to the election. Facing widespread public disapproval, the prime minister abandoned the tax proposal. The prime minister's party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), ended up losing one seat, while the Japan Communist Party experienced a surge in voter support and its best ever electoral result, which mostly came at the expense of the Japan Socialist Party and the LDP-breakaway New Liberal Club.

7 October 1979

All 511 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan
256 seats needed for a majority

Turnout

68.0% (5.4%)

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Masayoshi Ōhira	Ichio Asukata	Yoshikatsu Takeiri
Party	Liberal Democratic	Socialist	Kōmeitō
Leader since	1 December 1978	13 December 1977	13 February 1967
Last election	249 seats, 43.2%	123 seats, 21.9%	55 seats, 10.9%
Seats won	248	107	57
Seat change	1	16	2
Popular vote	24,084,131	10,643,450	5,282,683
Percentage	44.59%	19.71%	9.78%
Swing	1.4pp	2.2pp	1.1pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Kenji Miyamoto	Sasaki Ryōsaku	Yōhei Kōno
Party	Communist	Democratic Socialist	New Liberal Club
Leader since	1 August 1958		June 1976
Last election	17 seats, 10.4%	29 seats, 6.3%	17 seats, 4.2%
Seats won	39	35	4
Seat change	22	6	13
Popular vote	5,625,528	3,663,692	1,631,812
Percentage	10.4%	6.78%	3.02%
Swing		0.5pp	1.2pp

	Seventh party
	SDF
Leader	Hideo Den
Party	Socialist Democratic
Leader since	March 1978
Last election	–
Seats won	2
Seat change	New
Popular vote	368,660
Percentage	0.68%
Swing	New

Prime Minister before election

Masayoshi Ōhira
Liberal Democratic

Prime Minister after election

Masayoshi Ōhira
Liberal Democratic

Politics of Japan
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This was the first election in the LDP's history in which the party increased its share of the popular vote compared to the previous election.

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