(no subject)
Tiffany Foxworth
Professor Edwards
Comparative Government 201
2 December 2008
Comparative Politics
Election System: Japan v. United States
In Japan, citizens aged twenty years or more, regardless of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin (Article 14), can vote in the elections of their Parliament, The Diet. First convened as the Imperial Diet in 1889, it was restructured after World War II, and consists of two Houses: the lower, more powerful, House of Representatives and the upper House of Councillors.
Every four years, the House of Representatives has a general election for its four hundred eighty positions. Currently, 45 out of 480 members are women. Three hundred of the seats available come from single member districts, where the residents vote for a specific candidate to represent them. The Prefectural Election Management Committees is in charge of the election process for the single member district for Diet elections as well as the governors of prefectures and the members of prefectural assemblies. The United States utilizes this system to elect members of Congress as well as minor local elected positions. The remaining one hundred eighty seats are filled by proportional representation. Instead of voting for an individual candidate, voters in these regional blocks instead vote for a particular party. The Central Election Management Council, in charge of managing the proportional representation of the Diet, calculates the percentage of seats each party won in the election. After they have calculated the number of seats allotted to each party, the parties choose the designated number of members to fill the position. For example, if the DPJ, the Democratic Party of Japan, receives fifty percent of the total vote, they would be entitled to ninety of the one hundred eighty seats. The party would then look at its member list, and its top ninety members would be selected to serve in the House of Representatives from proportional representational blocks.
In the United States, each state is apportioned a number of seats based on the population of the state in accord with The Census. There are currently 435 seats available, and each state is entitled to at least one representative. If the state receives more than one congressional seat, the state is divided up into sections, or districts, within which elections between candidates run. One factor common between both the United States and Japan is the loyalty of constituency to those who they know personally or have been helped by, regardless of political alignment. The constituency of a district usually votes for the incumbent representative, as they are deemed a good man or woman by those constituents who were aided by the representative or his office by pork or services rendered.
The second house of the Diet, the House of Councillors, was known as the House of Peers before the institution of the Japanese Constitution after World War II. Of the two houses, the upper House of Councillors is weaker, but still has some political sway; if the two houses are in disagreement the lower house may insist upon its legislation, but only if it has a two-thirds majority vote. The two hundred and forty-two members of the House of Councillors hold office for six years. Currently, 44 out of 242 seats are held by women. Elections for one-half of the positions are held every three years, similar to the election cycle of the United States Senate.
Instead of one-half of the Senate elected every three years, one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. This causes changes to happen more slowly in the Senate, protecting it from the volatile whims of public opinion. In the Senate, two seats are automatically apportioned to every state in the Union- totaling one hundred positions. This House of Congress was designed after the New Jersey Plan to favor smaller states by giving them equal representation, regardless of population. The House of Representatives, modeled by the Virginia Plan, favored larger states with greater populations. Up until the seventeenth amendment was ratified in 1913, the Senate had not been elected by popular vote, but by the state legislatures. After the amendment was passed, voters were able to elect representatives from both houses of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Elections in Japan are conducted very differently than elections in the United States. In the United States, campaigning for presidential elections can begin very early; in the 2008 election, candidates started down the campaign trail around May 2007- a full year and a half before voting booths opened. Making use of volunteers, printed media, signs, telephones, radio, television, and most recently, the Internet, the options a candidate in America has to get their name out there are limited only by their campaign manager’s ingenuity.
In Japan, the members of Parties looking to get elected are, in contrast, severely limited. In a campaign that lasts a mere twelve days, candidates each ride up and down residential streets from eight am to eight pm on a “sound truck”; a truck outfitted with speakers and a microphone that broadcast the candidates’ name and message to anyone within earshot. They or those working for them are not allowed to approach anyone or distribute information. They are only allowed so many leaflets and posters, and there are regulations on where and how they are to be distributed.
Whether or not Internet websites are legal is a point of discussion. While there is nothing in the Japanese Constitution forbidding the utilization of the Internet to further a campaign, it also does not expressly allow it.
One powerful campaign technique candidates have on their side is the practice of forming “Kôenkai”, or “personal support groups”. Since candidates have such limited options in mass media, they instead focus their efforts on familiarizing the constituency with their name. They accomplish this by attending weddings and funerals, supporting local organizations, holding teas, and doing other small favors in their target community. According to ,
Much of the literature on voting in Japan clearly focuses on the role of groups and mobilization, rather than on atomistic calculations by individual voters. Candidates' personal support groups, or koenkai, are said to play the lead role in mobilizing votes, by lobbying such organizations as local agricultural cooperatives, small businessmen's associations, or neighborhood associations to deliver their members' votes at election time. By the time he is an established politician, a typical Diet member from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)--the governing party from 1955 to 1993--supports fifty to eighty constituency organizations, ranging from current-events discussion groups and sports clubs to women's activity circles and social groups for the elderly. These groups meet occasionally to eat and drink, go on outings to hot springs, celebrate the New Year with the Diet member, and so on. In election years group leaders ask members to mobilize their friends to vote for the sponsoring Diet member.
The Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, is the largest political party in Japan. Conservative and catch-all, the LDP retained control unchallenged almost homogeneously after its creation in 1955 except for one ten-month period- the 1993 election where Hosokawa Morihiro and the Japan New Party promised to clean up the government and fix “the Number one problem, namely the connection between politicians and business.” After the new party failed to nix the corruption running through government as they had promised, the LDP soon reclaimed power. Currently, the LDP has a three hundred and four member majority in the House of Representatives, has eighty-two members in the House of Councillors, and is led by Prime Minister Taro Aso. Prime Minister Aso was elected September 24, 2008, just before the beginning of the economic crisis that has swept around globe. As the Japanese stock market fell, so too did the approval rating of the Prime Minister and his Party. While it was expected that the government would be dissolved before the end of the year, it has been proposed that the Prime Minister wait until economic proposals have the chance to bolster the Party’s popularity with voters. The voting population of Japan has mixed feelings about voting for their parties; while they can see the corruption that runs through the LDP, they see that same corruption running through the opposition, however, in the opposition this corruption is coupled with inexperience. This circumstance has led many citizens to be apathetic and dissatisfied with the government and the party, but there is little for them to do about the issue, save refusing to recognize the government. This, however, is very unlikely as society demands elders and officials be respected.
In the United States, there are two main Parties power swings back and forth between. On the center-left lies the Democratic Party. A liberal party, democrats seek to expand social programs, protect almost all civil liberties and rights, increase governmental oversight in the business world, and overall, expand the role of government. On the center-right lies the Republican Party. Traditionally a conservative party interested in reducing the scope of government, today it focuses on Christianity, guns, and business. After their defeat in the 2008 election and George W. Bush presidency, the Republican Party will likely undergo some restructuring in upcoming years.
Like in the Presidential elections in the United States, the Prime Minister is not directly elected by the citizens of Japan. While America uses the Electoral College, Japan elects its Prime Minister through a majority vote election by the members of the Diet. Selecting the Prime Minister, like a Democratic convention pre-1968, is done secretively by Party kingpins. While many other Parliamentary Systems, like Great Britain, choose the President of the Party to be head of government as well, the LDP has guidelines limiting the amount of time a Prime Minister can remain seated to no more than two two-year terms. This creates a remarkably high rate of turn-over for the prime minister, only having the ability to work a maximum of four years.
In the United States Presidential Election, both the popular vote and electoral vote is utilized in deciding who will be the next president of the United States. There are five hundred thirty-eight seats in the Electoral College. Depending on population fluctuation of the states, an individual state’s seats may rise or fall. Before the Electoral College votes on who will be president, the popular vote is cast. Registered voters over the age of eighteen, regardless of race, gender, or creed, may vote in elections. After the results of the popular vote are tallied, the electoral votes possessed by each state go to the winner, except in the case of Maine and Nebraska, whose each respective two votes are decided by district.
To decisively win an election, an American presidential candidate must garner at least two hundred seventy of the total five hundred thirty-eight votes available. To meet this quota, candidates generally spend more time campaigning in larger, more populated states like California, New York or Texas and devote special attention to swing states- states that do not consistently vote for a particular party or might have reason to vote for the candidate opposite to their history.
a. What percentage, on average, does vote?
Works Cited
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