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Japan's political systemWritten by Maciamo in 2004 The DietJapan is a parliamentary monarchy governed by a Prime Minister and his cabinet. The Emperor has lost most of its decisional power after WWII.The bicameral parliament is called the Diet and is composed of the upper House of Councillors (参議院 "sangi-in") and the lower House of Representatives (衆議院 shugi-in). The House of Representatives can be dissloved anytime by the Prime Minister (which is quite frequent), in which case by-election are called. Notwithstanding, the House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. The lower house holds most of the decision power. The party which achieves a majority in the lower house can nominate the Prime Minister (usually the party president), which in turn will form the cabinet, generally almost exclusively out of Diet members. Political partiesContrarily to the UK or USA, Japanese political parties - since they were created in the late 19th century - tend to change constantly, undergoing splitting of factions, renaming and regrouping, causing utter confusion for the public.The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP or "Jiminto" 自民党) is the only stable party of the last 4 decades. It has been in power since its foundation in 1958, keeping an undisrupted majority in parliament, although it required an alliance with the Komeito since the economic slump of the 1990's. The Komeito (公明党) or "Clean Government Party" (CGP) is currently the third major party, but only account for 5 to 10% of the seats. It is the political branch of the controversial postwar Buddhist sect "Soka Gakkai" (創価学会), although it officially denied any connection due to the separation of State and religion stipulated by the constitution. At the moment, the second most popular party is the newly founded Minshuto or Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). It defeated the LDP by a single seat at the last Upper House election on 11 July 2004, but the LDP managed to keep the majority thanks to its alliance to the Komeito. Other parties include: the Japanese Communist Party, which stay with a constant 3 to 5% of the seats at the Diet; the Japanese Socialist Party has almost completely disintegrated after internal dissensions; the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. Click here for a comparison of major policies of the LDP and DPJ. Election systemThe legal age for voting is 20, while the minimum age to stand for election is 25 for the lower house and 30 for the upper house. There are 252 Councillors elected for 6 years and 480 Representatives elected for 4 years. Both chambers are elected by a combination of proportional representation and prefectural constituencies. 100 Councillors and 180 Representatives are elected by proportional representation, and the rest by district (47 prefectures for the Councillors, and 300 single-seat electoral districts for the Representatives). Oddly enough, Japanese laws prohibit candidates to make written propaganda during the electoral periods - which means that also Internet campaigns or are not allowed. As a result, politicians have to resort to shouting in loudspeakers in little vans while driving around their electoral constituencies. The resulting din causes much nuisance the residents, especially since what they say is rarely more than "I am Mr/Ms X, please vote for me, thank you !". Very little political ideas are actually communicated, which is probably the aim of this policy (as a means for the ruling LDP party to stay in power). Related articles |
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