House of Representatives (Japan)

About

The House of Representatives (Japanese: 衆議院, Hepburn: Shūgiin; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕɯː.ɡʲiꜜ.iɴ, -ŋʲiꜜ-]) is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The Senate is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by Article 41 and Article 42 of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation, and 289 are elected from single-member constituencies.

The overall voting system used to elect the House of Representatives is a parallel system, a form of semi-proportional representation. Under a parallel system, the allocation of list seats does not take into account the outcome in the single seat constituencies. Therefore, the overall allocation of seats in the House of Representatives is not fully proportional, to the advantage of larger parties.