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Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. The House of Councillors consists of 247 members who serve six-year terms. Approximately half the members are elected every three years. At these elections 121 members were elected. Of these 73 were elected from the 47 prefectural districts and 48 were elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation.
Parties
Results
Summary of seats
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Party Prefectural Proportional From 2001 Total
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New Clean Government Party 3 8 13 24 +1
Democrat Party 31 19 29 79 +12
Japanese Communist Party - 4 5 9 -11
Liberal Democrat Party 34 15 65 114 -1
Social Democrat Party - 2 6 8 0
Others 5 - 8 12 +4
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Total 73 48 126 247
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Proportional seats
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Party Votes % Seats
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New Clean Government Party 8,621,267 15.4 8 +1
Democrat Party 21,138,032 37.8 19 +5
Japanese Communist Party 4,363,107 07.8 4 -4
Liberal Democrat Party 16,797,684 30.0 15 -2
Social Democrat Party 2,990,667 05.2 2
Others 2,022,134 03.6 -
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Total 55,932,891 48
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Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive (http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/j/japan/)
In the elections, the oppositional Democrat Party won a majority of the seats contested in the election, sweeping the liberal urban areas. The Liberal Democrat Party, the ruling party, failed to win in its strongholds and yet again, received most of its support from the agrarian areas. The New Clean Government Party (New Komeito) did well, reaching its goals, as did the Social Democrat Party. The Japanese Communist Party did not reach its goals at all, while Non-partisans won the rest of the seats. The Liberal League and Midori no kaigi failed to win any seats.
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