General elections were held in Japan on 22 June 1980. The incumbent Liberal Democratic Party won an overall majority for the first time since 1972.

Campaign Vote of no confidence in the Ohira cabinet The election was triggered following a vote of no confidence brought by the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) on 16 May 1980 regarding corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives of Japan (lower house) to withdraw its backing from the LDP government.

Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion, leading to the fall of the government.

For the first time, the election for the House of Representatives was held in conjunction with the election for the House of Councillors on the same day.

Death of the Prime Minister Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party died during the campaign. Ōhira had expected the vote of no confidence to fail, and was visibly shaken when it passed by a margin of 243–187. Given the choice of resigning or calling new elections, Ōhira chose the latter and began campaigning for LDP candidates. He was hospitalized for exhaustion on 31 May and died of a massive heart attack 12 days later.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Masayoshi Ito became acting prime minister after Ōhira's death. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below. Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Secretary General of LDP, led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the "sympathy vote" generated by Ōhira's death. The Prime Minister was succeeded by Zenkō Suzuki after the election.

Results

Seats won per district

By prefecture PrefectureTotalseatsSeats wonLDPJSPKōmeitōDSPJCPNLCSDFInd.Aichi221122412Akita853Aomori7511Chiba1611221Ehime963Fukui431Fukuoka19923221Fukushima12921Gifu9621Gunma1073Hiroshima127311Hokkaido2211911Hyōgo2096221Ibaraki1293Ishikawa651Iwate862Kagawa642Kagoshima1192Kanagawa19553213Kōchi52111Kumamoto10721Kyoto1032221Mie9621Miyagi9621Miyazaki651Nagano137411Nagasaki95211Nara52111Niigata15852Ōita7511Okayama106211Okinawa52111Osaka26736361Saga541Saitama1593111Shiga52111Shimane532Shizuoka14811211Tochigi10631Tokushima541Tokyo4315762751Tottori422Toyama651Wakayama63111Yamagata8521Yamaguchi9621Yamanashi541Total51128410733322912311

References Mahendra Prakash (2004), Coalition Experience in Japanese Politics: 1993-2003, New Delhi: JNU.