Japanese general election, 1980

In Japan on 16 May 1980, Japan Socialist Party (JSP) brought a no-confidence motion to the Diet, mentioning corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives of Japan (lower house) to withdraw its backing from the government. Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion. The government was defeated by 56 votes in total of 243 and resigned. For the first time elections for the both houses of the Diet were called in June 1980. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below.