electionstracker

Japan 1976 general election

What was the result of the 1976 general election in Japan?

Liberal Democratic Party won 249 of 511 seats with 41.8% of the vote. 73.4% 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 249 of 511 seats with 41.8% of the vote; 73.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 1.7 points on 1972.

  • Liberal Democratic Party 249 −22 seats 41.8% −5.1 points
  • Japan Socialist Party 123 +5 seats 20.7% −1.2 points
  • Komeito 55 +26 seats 10.9% +2.5 points
  • Japanese Communist Party 17 −21 seats 10.4% −0.1 points
  • Democratic Socialist Party 29 +10 seats 6.3% −0.7 points
  • New Liberal Club 17 4.2%
  • 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 1972 general election, party by party.

256 of 511 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 41.8%

    Share of the vote won by Liberal Democratic Party

    Liberal Democratic Party won 249 of 511 seats. A majority needs 256.

  2. +26 seats

    Seats gained by Komeito

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1972. Liberal Democratic Party lost 22 seats.

  3. 73.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 1.7 points on 1972.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Liberal Democratic Party249−2241.8−5.123,653,626
Japan Socialist Party123+520.7−1.211,713,009
Komeito55+2610.9+2.56,177,300
Japanese Communist Party17−2110.4−0.15,878,192
Democratic Socialist Party29+106.3−0.73,554,076
Independents21+75.7+0.73,227,463
New Liberal Club174.22,363,985

± is the change against the Japan 1972 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Liberal Democratic Party 23,653,626
  • Japan Socialist Party 11,713,009
  • Komeito 6,177,300
  • Japanese Communist Party 5,878,192
  • Democratic Socialist Party 3,554,076
  • Independents 3,227,463
  • New Liberal Club 2,363,985

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?

73.4% of the 77,926,588 registered voters cast a ballot (57,231,992 ballots), up 1.7 points on 1972. 56,612,765 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1967 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Liberal Democratic Party41.8% of votes48.7% of seats
  • Japan Socialist Party20.7% of votes24.1% of seats
  • Komeito10.9% of votes10.8% of seats
  • Democratic Socialist Party6.3% of votes5.7% of seats
  • Japanese Communist Party10.4% of votes3.3% of seats
  • New Liberal Club4.2% of votes3.3% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 7.5 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 4.0 by votes and 3.2 by seats; Liberal Democratic Party led Japan Socialist Party by 21.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of