Historically, Japanese Elections Common in October; Half Of Lower House Polls Have Been In Final Quarter

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, October 10, 2024

The upcoming House of Representation election will be the sixth lower house poll to be held in an October. The poll is set for Oct. 27, and official campaigning will begin with candidacy registration on Oct. 15.

It will also be Japan’s 29th lower house election after World War II.

Six lower house polls have also been held in December.

This will be the third consecutive time for the lower house poll to be conducted in October, following the elections of 2021 and 2017. It will also be the 15th time to hold the election during the October-December period.

The poll has been held one time each in May, August and September. It has never been held in March.

Facts that may help explain the concentration of elections in the last quarter of the year include ordinary Diet sessions being held from January to around June, and the hot summer months being avoided.

In some cases, confrontations between the ruling and opposition parties in ordinary Diet sessions have prompted lower house dissolutions in the autumn, with the aim of using victory at the polls to gain power to drive the implementation of policies.

The change of prime minister on Oct. 1 also was a major factor behind the timing of the upcoming election. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba apparently hopes to obtain a mandate from voters by holding the poll at an early stage at the start of his new administration.