Keeping It Together: Party Unity and the 2012 Election

Abstract

Much of the drama surrounding the 2012 election was the uncertainty regarding the success of new challenger parties and the potential rise of a “third force” in a system that had been largely dominated by two parties for the previous dozen years: the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). This third force potentially included a substantial number of politicians previously affiliated with the governing DPJ party (see Reed, this volume). Internal conflict within the DPJ government was prevalent throughout its time in office, and the summer prior to the election saw a major split, led by Ichiro Ozawa, with nearly one-quarter of the party’s MPs leaving the party (Pekkanen and Reed, this volume). In the weeks immediately prior to the election, a steady trickle of MPs left the party as well. All told, despite a smashing victory in 2009 with 309 (out of 480) seats in the House of Representatives (HR), the DPJ entered the 2012 campaign with only 230 incumbents holding HR seats.