Japanese House of Councillors Election, July 2007

[Tender Branson]

Does anyone know why some articles mention the Japanese House of Councillors has 242 seats and others 247 ? I mean today 50% of the seats are up for election = 121 but currently there are 247 seats held in the Japanese House of Councillors ... where are the other 5 seats coming from ? Are they appointed by someone ?

[Tender Branson]

There used to be 252 seats in the Japanese House of Councillors, with 126 elected every three years to a six year term.  Starting with the 2001 election they elected only 121 each time so between 2001 and 2004 they had 247 Councillors and since the 2004 election they've had 242 Councillors.

Ah good Someone´s got to update the Japanese Wikipedia election pages then ...

[Tender Branson]

The opposition parties will have about 136-139 seats in the new parliament, while the governing coalition will have 103-106.

Current results:

Opposition: 136
Ruling Parties: 103
Undecided: 3

http://www.nhk.or.jp/english

[Tender Branson]

Where can I find maps?  I'd like to see how the different regions of Japan voted.

I am so happy about these results! 

Kireev, who is also a member on this forum, has a good site with election maps from all over the world. He has not created a map for the election yesterday, but from the previous in 2004:

[Tender Branson]

Sweet!

Abe is refusing to resign too. Good. He may actually end up costing the LDP the lower house too!

That would be a bit much. I can't see the LDP not overthrowing Abe if his unpopularity continues.

Check this out:

"Even as Shinzo Abe vowed again Monday to stay the course as prime minister, 56 percent of those asked in an exit poll want him out.

While 32 percent said Abe should "stay in office," 56 percent said he should step aside.

The share who said Abe should resign stood at 78 percent among Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) voters, 80 percent for Japanese Communist Party voters, 78 percent for Social Democratic Party voters, and 65 percent for Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) voters.

Among those who voted for the Liberal Democratic Party, 17 percent called for Abe to step down.

Among unaffiliated voters--a group that wielded strong influence on the election outcome--72 percent said Abe should resign, while 21 percent said he should not.

By age group, 66 percent of voters in their 30s said Abe should step down, followed by 65 percent of voters in their 20s and 64 percent of those in their 40s.

The exit poll also found that calls for Abe's resignation were more widespread, at 60 percent, in major cities with populations of about 1 million or more, compared with 55 percent among voters in small- and midsized cities and 51 percent among rural voters."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200707310120.html