electionstracker

Japan 1972 general election

What was the result of the 1972 general election in Japan?

Liberal Democratic Party won 271 of 491 seats with 46.9% of the vote. 71.8% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Japan
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Liberal Democratic Party won 271 of 491 seats with 46.9% of the vote; 71.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 3.3 points on 1969.

  • Liberal Democratic Party 271 −17 seats 46.9% −0.8 points
  • Japan Socialist Party 118 +28 seats 21.9% +0.5 points
  • Japanese Communist Party 38 +24 seats 10.5% +3.7 points
  • Komeito 29 −18 seats 8.5% −2.5 points
  • Democratic Socialist Party 19 −12 seats 7.0% −0.8 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Japan 1969 general election, party by party.

246 of 491 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 46.9%

    Share of the vote won by Liberal Democratic Party

    Liberal Democratic Party won 271 of 491 seats. A majority needs 246.

  2. +28 seats

    Seats gained by Japan Socialist Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1969. Komeito lost 18 seats.

  3. 71.8%

    Voter turnout

    Up 3.3 points on 1969.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Liberal Democratic Party271−1746.9−0.824,563,199
Japan Socialist Party118+2821.9+0.511,478,742
Japanese Communist Party38+2410.5+3.75,496,828
Komeito29−188.5−2.54,436,756
Democratic Socialist Party19−127.0−0.83,660,953
Independents14−25.0−0.32,645,582
Other parties (seats only)2

± is the change against the Japan 1969 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Liberal Democratic Party 24,563,199
  • Japan Socialist Party 11,478,742
  • Japanese Communist Party 5,496,828
  • Komeito 4,436,756
  • Democratic Socialist Party 3,660,953
  • Independents 2,645,582
  • Other parties (seats only)

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

71.8% of the 73,769,637 registered voters cast a ballot (52,934,894 ballots), up 3.3 points on 1969. 52,425,079 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Liberal Democratic Party46.9% of votes55.2% of seats
  • Japan Socialist Party21.9% of votes24.0% of seats
  • Japanese Communist Party10.5% of votes7.7% of seats
  • Komeito8.5% of votes5.9% of seats
  • Democratic Socialist Party7.0% of votes3.9% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 7.2 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.4 by votes and 2.7 by seats; Liberal Democratic Party led Japan Socialist Party by 24.9 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of