General elections were held in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on 7 October 1979 to elect the 511 members of the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Ōhira Masayoshi's announcement that a consumption (sales) tax would be imposed was a hot-button issue in the run-up to the election. Facing widespread public disapproval, the prime minister abandoned the tax proposal. The prime minister's party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), ended up losing one seat, while the

Japan Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest List of political parties in Japan, political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest List of communist parties#Modern n ...

experienced a surge in voter support and its best ever electoral result, which mostly came at the expense of the

Japan Socialist Party The was a major socialist and progressive political party in Japan which existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was the primary representative of the Japanese left and main opponent of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party for most of its ex ...

and the LDP-breakaway New Liberal Club. This was the first election in the LDP's history in which the party increased its share of the popular vote compared to the previous election.

Results

By prefecture

References

{{Japanese elections

General elections in Japan 1979 elections in Japan October 1979 in Asia Election and referendum articles with incomplete results