1986 Japanese general election

1986 Japanese general election

6 July 1986
All 512 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan 257 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.40% (3.46pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Yasuhiro Nakasone Masashi Ishibashi Yoshikatsu Takeiri Party LDP Socialist Kōmeitō Last election 45.76%, 250 seats 19.49%, 112 seats 10.12%, 58 seats Seats won 300 85 56 Seat change 50 27 3 Popular vote 29,875,501 10,412,584 5,701,277 Percentage 49.42% 17.23% 9.43% Swing 3.66pp 2.26pp 0.69pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   DSP Leader Tetsuzo Fuwa Tsukamoto Saburō Yōhei Kōno Party JCP Democratic Socialist New Liberal Club Last election 9.34%, 26 seats 7.27%, 38 seats 2.36%, 8 seats Seats won 26 26 6 Seat change 12 2 Popular vote 5,313,246 3,895,858 1,114,800 Percentage 8.79% 6.44% 1.64% Swing 0.55pp 0.83pp 0.72pp
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
Prime Minister before election Yasuhiro Nakasone LDP Elected Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone LDP

General elections were held in Japan on 6 July 1986 to elect the 512 members of the House of Representatives. This marks the last general election as of 2021 in which the LDP was able to obtain at least 300 seats in the House of Representatives, an event that only ever happened once before, in the 1960 election. This general election and 1960's are also tied for the highest number of seats ever obtained by the LDP in a general election, as both saw the LDP winning exactly 300 seats. However, the House of Representatives had fewer total seats in 1960, and so the popular vote for the LDP was actually stronger in 1960. Nonetheless, the 1986 general election also stands as the fourth strongest LDP showing in a general election in terms of the popular constituency votes. The result would not be matched until the Democratic Party of Japan's landslide showing in the 2009 Japanese general election narrowly beat it.

Opposition parties across the board saw seat losses and popular vote losses alongside it, with the lone exceptions being the Japanese Communist Party, which plateaued in its seat count, and the minor Socialist Democratic Federation, which gained a single seat. The biggest losses were in the Japan Socialist Party, which saw its decreasing popular vote numbers continued, alongside losing 27 seats. The DSP also saw a 12-seat loss, which took its representative number back down to 26 seats. Kōmeitō saw a small seat loss of three, and the New Liberal Club, which had been in coalition with the Second Nakasone Cabinet, lost two seats.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Liberal Democratic Party	29,875,501	49.42	300	+50
	Japan Socialist Party	10,412,584	17.23	85	–27
	Japanese Communist Party	5,313,246	8.79	26	0
	Kōmeitō	5,701,277	9.43	56	–2
	Democratic Socialist Party	3,895,858	6.44	26	–12
	New Liberal Club	1,114,800	1.84	6	–2
	Socialist Democratic Federation	499,670	0.83	4	+1
	Other parties	120,627	0.20	0	–
	Independents	3,515,043	5.81	9	–7
Total		60,448,606	100.00	512	+1
Valid votes		60,448,606	97.96
Invalid/blank votes		1,259,044	2.04
Total votes		61,707,650	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		86,426,845	71.40
Source: IPU

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		LDP	JSP	Kōmeitō	JCP	DSP	NLC	SDF	Ind.
Aichi	22	11	2	2	1	4			2
Akita	7	5	2
Aomori	7	7
Chiba	18	12	2	3	1
Ehime	9	7	1	1
Fukui	4	3							1
Fukuoka	19	9	4	4		1		1
Fukushima	12	8	3			1
Gifu	9	6	1	1					1
Gunma	10	8	2
Hiroshima	12	9	1	1		1
Hokkaido	23	13	7	1	1				1
Hyōgo	19	10	4	3	1	1
Ibaraki	12	8	2	1		1
Ishikawa	5	4	1
Iwate	8	6	2
Kagawa	6	5	1
Kagoshima	10	7	3
Kanagawa	20	5	4	4	1	2	4
Kōchi	5	2	1	1	1
Kumamoto	10	6	1	1					2
Kyoto	10	4		2	2	2
Mie	9	6	2	1
Miyagi	9	7	1	1
Miyazaki	6	5				1
Nagano	13	9	3			1
Nagasaki	9	6	2			1
Nara	5	2		1	1	1
Niigata	13	10	2						1
Ōita	7	4	2			1
Okayama	10	5	1	2		1		1
Okinawa	5	2	1	1	1
Osaka	27	7	4	7	6	3
Saga	5	3	1						1
Saitama	17	9	2	3	1	1	1
Shiga	5	3	1			1
Shimane	5	3	2
Shizuoka	14	10	2	1		1
Tochigi	10	5	3	1		1
Tokushima	5	3	1	1
Tokyo	44	19	5	10	8		1	1
Tottori	4	3	1
Toyama	6	4	2
Wakayama	6	4		1	1
Yamagata	7	6						1
Yamaguchi	9	6	2	1
Yamanashi	5	4	1
Total	512	300	85	56	26	26	6	4	9