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Journal Articles

Toward a Two-Party System or Two Party Systems?: Patterns of Competition in Japan’s Single-Member Districts, 1996-2005

This article examines whether electoral reform in Japan replacing a single non-transferable vote (SNTV) system with a parallel mixed system has led to two-party competition in single-member districts (SMDs) in House of Representative elections from 1996 to 2005. While nationwide figures suggest declining numbers of effective candidates and losers, distinguishing SMDs by levels of urbanization reveals that this trend is largely limited to urban areas. Instead of converging toward a two-party system as many proponents of electoral reforms had anticipated, elections under the SMD portion of the new system have witnessed the emergence and continuation of two distinct patterns of competition: urban constituencies featuring contests between two major parties, and rural constituencies dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The persistence of the latter pattern diminishes the prospect of power alternation.

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Detail Information
Series Title
Party Politics
Call Number
-
Publisher
: sage publisher.,
Collation
-
Language
English
ISBN/ISSN
13540688
Classification
-
Content Type
-
Media Type
-
Carrier Type
-
Edition
Vol. 16 no. 3 May 2010 , pp. 370-393
Subject(s)
Japan
Electoral Reform
Bipolar competition
Single-member districts
Urban-rural differences
TOWARD A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM
Specific Detail Info
-
Statement of Responsibility
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