Akashian presidential election, 1985

Akashian presidential election, 1985

29 June 1985 (first round) 6 July 1985 (second round)
Turnout	89,6% (first round) 85,5% (second round)
Candidate Emi Hanamura Masashi Yukimura Party UA SP Popular vote 3.440.843 2.108.904 Percentage 62,0% 38,0%
Most voted candidate by province (second round)
President before election Masako Nakai Ind President after election Emi Hanamura UA

A presidential election was held in Akashi on 29 June and 6 July 1985.

Major changes had occurred since the last election, including the transformation of the Conservative National Party into a centre-right party under Ran Tsukuda, the centre-right's victory in the 1982 general election, and the approval of a new constitution, which cemented Akashi's parliamentary system and reduced the presidency to a mainly ceremonial role.

Incumbent Masako Nakai ran for re-election, but her popularity had declined during her term due to her controversial actions in designating Prime Ministers after the 1980 snap election. The light blue bloc unified behind United Akashi's Emi Hanamura, an outstanding exemplar of the sanyoi image that Ran had pushed heavily as a trademark of the centre-right. The left-wing was weakened by a feud between the Socialist Party, which was trying to move towards the centre, and the Communist Party, which remained staunchly far-left.

Emi won the first round, with a 20% lead over her second-placed rival, the SP's Masashi Yukimura. Masako surprisingly finished third, failing to even advance to the final round. The extreme right candidates of the Akashi Renewal Party and Freedom League sought to mainly win right-wing voters angered with Ran's moderation, but collectively won only 7,1% of the vote.

The second round saw a landslide victory for Emi, with 62% of the vote and majorities in all 5 provinces. Masashi even finished second in Kobi, where enough CP voters were angered by the SP's centrist drift to vote for Emi, whose conduct during the campaign they respected.

This election formed part of a series of centre-right victories in the neondai that would culminate in the "blue wave" of 1986.

Result

Presidential election, 29 June and 6 July 1985
Candidate		Party	1st round		2nd round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Emi Hanamura	United Akashi	2.605.512	44,8%	3.440.843	62,0%
	Masashi Yukimura	Socialist Party	1.424.890	24,5%	2.108.904	38,0%
	Masako Nakai	Independent	709.537	12,2%
	Ichibei Nakayama	Communist Party	663.010	11,4%
	Junzō Wakayoshi	Akashi Renewal Party	244.267	4,2%
	Shirai Juba	Freedom League	168.660	2,9%
Total			5.815.876	100%	5.549.747	100%
Registered voters and turnout			6.490.933	89,6%		85,5%