Akashian general election, 1990

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Akashian general election, 1990

← 1986 10 March 1990 1994 →

400 seats in the National Assembly
201 seats needed for a majority
Turnout91,0%
  First party Second party Third party
  ShinobuFurukawa-small.jpg RanTsukuda-small.jpg Morihiro Hosokawa cropped 2 Morihiro Hosokawa 19930809.jpg
Leader Shinobu Furukawa Ran Tsukuda Kōsaku Ayuzawa
Party CP MPP SP
Last election 34 seats
8,9% PR
8,8% STV
N/A 41 seats
10,5% PR
10,0% STV
Seats won 107 86 40
Seat change Increase 73 Increase 86 Decrease 1
PR vote 1.430.477 957.852 598.658
% and swing 22,7%
Increase 13,8%
15,2%
New
9,5%
Decrease 1,0%
STV vote 1.517.031 1.057.516 711.305
% and swing 24,1%
Increase 15,3%
16,8%
New
11,3%
Increase 1,3%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ei Katsuragi Toshizaku Imai Hatsu Murai
Party GP NCP NFP
Last election 27 seats
5,0% PR
5,0% STV
34 seats
10,0% PR
9,7% STV
N/A
Seats won 37 36 32
Seat change Increase 10 Increase 2 Increase 32
PR vote 586.054 573.451 535.641
% and swing 9,3%
Increase 4,3%
9,1%
Decrease 0,9%
8,5%
New
STV vote 535.053 629.474 509.874
% and swing 8,5%
Increase 3,5%
10,0%
Increase 0,3%
8,1%
New

Akashi-election-general-1990.png
Most voted party by province

Prime Minister before election

Ichirō Kondō
CNP

Prime Minister after election

Shinobu Furukawa
CP

A general election was held in Akashi on 10 March 1990. This was a snap election caused by the Ichirō Kondō government's collapse. It was nicknamed the "red wave" (Miranian: 赤い波 akai nami) for the victory of the Communist Party.

Ichikon's deposal of Ran Tsukuda on 25 December 1989 shocked the public, and brought the neoliberal conspiracy into the open. His plan was to take advantage of the Conservative National Party's near-majority through internal purges and ally with the Freedom League and Akashi Renewal Party to push through a radical neoliberal program. This caused a general strike and the greatest mass protests since the Summer of Freedom. A crushing referendum defeat after President Emi Hanamura vetoed the program caused a snap election.

Public disgust with the neoliberal conspiracy translated into a surge of leftist support. The bulk of this went to the Communist Party, whose leader Shinobu Furukawa appealed to the public with her tough, straight-talking demeanour. Shinobu ran an aggressive anti-neoliberal campaign, proclaiming that "The nineties will be communist!".

Ousted Prime Minister Ran Tsukuda also launched a reorganisation of the centre-right, taking her faction out of the CNP and forming the Moderate People's Party. United Akashi agreed to merge with the MPP right off, but negotiations with the other centre-right parties didn't progress quickly enough. The MPP did manage to conclude informal alliances with the Liberal Party, National Democratic Party, and Reform Party.

This was one of the most heated Akashian election campaigns in history, with right-wing parties' events being disrupted and attacked by left-wing supporters. The AKH leaders' debate was famously unruly: Shinobu punched Ichikon at one point, hard enough to cause a nosebleed, and at the end of the debate, stared directly at the camera and declared, "Vote for the Communist Party, and I will make sure these traitorous bastards rot in prison!".

Results

General election, 10 March 1990
Akashi-election-gen-1990.svg
Party Party list Constituency Total
seats
+/-
PR % +/− STV % +/−
Communist Party 1.430.477 22,7% +13,8% 1.517.031 24,1% +15,3% 107 +73
Moderate People's Party 957.852 15,2% +15,2% 1.057.516 16,8% +16,8% 86 +86
Socialist Party 598.658 9,5% -1,0% 711.305 11,3% +1,3% 40 -1
Green Party 586.054 9,3% +4,3% 535.053 8,5% +3,5% 37 +10
National Cooperative Party 573.451 9,1% -0,9% 629.474 10,0% +0,3% 36 +2
New Frontier Party 535.641 8,5% +8,5% 509.874 8,1% +8,1% 32 +32
Liberal Party 277.273 4,4% +1,1% 176.253 2,8% ±0,0% 12 +1
National Democratic Party 264.670 4,2% +0,5% 151.074 2,4% -1,0% 11 -2
Reform Party 245.765 3,9% +0,7% 157.368 2,5% -0,5% 10 -1
National Union 233.161 3,7% +0,7% 201.432 3,2% +1,4% 10 ±0
Justice Party 220.558 3,5% +1,0% 169.958 2,7% +1,3% 9 +8
Social Credit Party 201.653 3,2% +0,8% 188.842 3,0% +1,0% 7 +7
Conservative National Party 69.318 1,1% -39,5% 81.832 1,3% -40,2% 0 -200
Freedom League 56.715 0,9% -0,9% 75.537 1,2% -1,4% 0 -2
Akashi Renewal Party 50.413 0,8% -0,8% 62.947 1,0% -1,3% 0 -1
Independents N/A 69.242 1,1% -1,4% 3 +1
Total 6.301.660 100% 6.294.735 100% 400
Registered voters and turnout 6.924.901 91,0% 6.924.901 90,9%
Bloc strength
Bloc Parties Seats
Crimson bloc CP, SCP, GP 151
Pale crimson bloc SP, NU, JP, NFP 91
Light yellow bloc NCP 36
Light blue bloc MPP, LP, NDP, RP 119
Dark blue bloc CNP, ARP, FL 0

The CP won a plurality for the first time in a general election. Shūkan Gendai noted a high degree of split-ticket voting, as even centre-right voters gave their party list or first preference vote to the CP in order to punish the neoliberal conspiracy. The public outrage was so high that the CP swept all provinces, even winning the usually conservative Takao. However, their peak of 22–24% of the vote and 107 seats showed voters were very cautious about giving any party an outsized lead after the "blue wave" of 1986 backfired on them.

Ran's MPP achieved a respectable debut, finishing second with 15–16% of the vote and 86 seats. She thus brought the core of her support to the new party, but lost many floating voters who saw Shinobu as the best leader for punishing the neoliberal conspiracy. However, she obtained a personal triumph: all members of the red rice group were returned in their constituencies with even larger majorities. The SP, having previously bled supporters due to an attempted move to the centre, lost one seat and was shoved into third place.

Another notable debut was that of the New Frontier Party, whose high hopes at their foundation a year earlier were overtaken by the course of events. Nevertheless, they succeeded in finishing sixth with around 8% of the vote and 32 seats.

The crimson bloc became the largest in the National Assembly, guaranteeing a left-wing government. The dark blue bloc suffered a complete wipeout, losing all their seats. The CNP's dramatic collapse, losing up to 40% of the vote and all 200 seats, made it the worst defeat for a ruling party in Eracuran history.

Shinobu formed a largely crimsonpale crimson coalition, although she accepted outside support from the New Frontier Party and National Union instead of formally including them in the government. The government technically had a minority of 200 seats — ironically, the same number that the CNP had won in 1986 — but could rely on NFP, NU, and NCP support, as well as independents.