Akashian presidential election, 1990

Akashian presidential election, 1990

30 June 1990 (first round) 7 July 1990 (second round)
Turnout	88,8% (first round) 89,7% (second round)
Candidate Emi Hanamura Ichibei Nakayama Party MPP CP Popular vote 4.000.294 2.211.343 Percentage 64,4% 35,6%
Most voted candidate by province (second round)
President before election Emi Hanamura UA President after election Emi Hanamura MPP

A presidential election was held in Akashi on 30 June and 7 July 1990.

The election happened in a turbulent year for Akashi, mainly defined by the neoliberal conspiracy. It was preceded by the March snap election, which produced a "red wave", making Communist Party leader Shinobu Furukawa Prime Minister.

Incumbent Emi Hanamura ran for re-election with the endorsement of the Moderate People's Party, which had absorbed her old party United Akashi. A combination of landslide defeat in March and disqualifications of the far-right left a field dominated by leftist parties, including the first appearance of the New Frontier Party and the only Social Credit Party candidate to run for the presidency. Emi's sole centre-right challenger was the Liberal Party's Eriko Nomura, whose campaign was seen as quixotic given Emi's popularity and the consolidation of the centre-right around her.

Emi won the first round by a large lead, falling only some 12.000 votes short of the 50% threshold. Some commentators speculated that if Eriko hadn't stood, Emi would've won in the first round. Also remarkable was the Socialist Party's collapse to only 8,5% of the vote, as most leftist voters rallied behind the CP and distrusted the SP due to its neondai-era drift towards the centre.

The second round saw Emi win with 64,4% of the vote, an even larger margin than her previous one, and majorities in all provinces but Kobi. Asahi Shinbun wrote in its commentary that voters' anger at the neoliberal conspiracy had largely dissipated in the months since the snap election: "Akashians flooded the polling stations in March to give the Communists their first victory, then dutifully showed up in July to re-elect Emi by an even larger margin."

Shūkan Gendai remarked that both the general and presidential elections featured a high degree of split-ticket voting: centre-right voters who voted for the CP in March to punish the neoliberal conspiracy, and left-wing voters who admired Emi's conduct as president and voted to re-elect her in July.

Result

Presidential election, 30 June and 7 July 1990
Candidate		Party	1st round		2nd round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Emi Hanamura	Moderate People's Party	3.062.358	49,8%	4.000.294	64,4%
	Ichibei Nakayama	Communist Party	1.488.134	24,2%	2.211.343	35,6%
	Nozomi Sugawara	New Frontier Party	657.976	10,7%
	Kazuki Ōshiro	Socialist Party	522.692	8,5%
	Eriko Nomura	Liberal Party	245.972	4,0%
	Naoki Shiba	Social Credit Party	172.181	2,8%
Total			6.149.312	100%	6.211.637	100%
Registered voters and turnout			6.924.901	88,8%		89,7%