1972 Japanese General Election

10 December 1972 · The 1955 system · 491 seats, 246 for a majority

Little changed in the aftermath of the election; the LDP saw a slight decrease in seat numbers (debatably due to it fielding more candidates than ever before as a result of regained confidence in 1969), and its vote share remained below 50% (even with the addition of conservative-aligned independents).

Prime Minister before

Kakuei Tanaka

LDP

Prime Minister (continued)

Kakuei Tanaka

LDP

Largest force

Liberal Democratic Party

271 of 491 seats

Turnout

71.8%

The result

Sort by

Liberal Democratic Party

Kakuei Tanaka · 46.9% of votes · -17 seats

271

seats

Japan Socialist Party

Tomomi Narita · 21.9% of votes · +28 seats

118

seats

Japanese Communist Party

Kenji Miyamoto · 10.5% of votes · +24 seats

seats

Kōmeitō

Yoshikatsu Takeiri · 8.5% of votes · -18 seats

seats

Democratic Socialist Party

Kasuga Ikkō · 7.0% of votes · -12 seats

seats

Independents

5.0% of votes · -2 seats

seats

Other parties

0.3% of votes · +2 seats

seats


Liberal Democratic Party	Kakuei Tanaka	271	-17	24,563,199	46.9%	-0.8
Japan Socialist Party	Tomomi Narita	118	+28	11,478,742	21.9%	+0.5
Japanese Communist Party	Kenji Miyamoto	38	+24	5,496,827	10.5%	+3.7
Kōmeitō	Yoshikatsu Takeiri	29	-18	4,436,755	8.5%	-2.5
Democratic Socialist Party	Kasuga Ikkō	19	-12	3,660,953	7.0%	-0.8
Independents	—	14	-2	2,645,582	5.0%	—
Other parties	—	2	+2	143,019	0.3%	—