2009 Japanese general election
General elections were held in Japan on August 30, 2009 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party) in a landslide, winning 221 of the 300 constituency seats and receiving 42.4% of the proportional block votes for another 87 seats, a total of 308 seats to only 119 for the LDP (64 constituency seats and 26.7% of the proportional vote).
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All 480 seats in the House of Representatives 241 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 69.19% (1.73pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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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. Prime Minister Tarō Asō 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. A leadership election was held on September 28, 2009.
The 2009 election was the first time since World War II that voters mandated a change in control of the government to an opposition political party. It marked the worst defeat for a governing party in modern Japanese history, was only the second time that the LDP had not been able to form a government after an election since its formation in 1955, and was the first time that the LDP lost its status as the largest party in the lower house; the only other break in LDP control since 1955 had been for a 3-year period from 1993 to 1996 (first 11 months in opposition, then participating in a coalition government under a socialist prime minister).