1972 Japanese general election

10 December 1972
All 491 seats in the House of Representatives 246 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	71.76% (3.25pp)
First party Second party Third party   130x130px 130x130px 130x130px Leader Kakuei Tanaka Tomomi Narita Kenji Miyamoto Party Liberal Democratic Socialist Communist Leader since 5 July 1972 30 November 1968 1 August 1958 Leader's seat Niigata–3rd Kagawa–1st Did not contest Last election 47.63%, 288 seats 21.44%, 90 seats 6.81%, 14 seats Seats won 271 118 38 Seat change 17 28 24 Popular vote 24,563,199 11,478,742 5,496,827 Percentage 46.85% 21.90% 10.49% Swing 0.78pp 0.46pp 3.68pp   Fourth party Fifth party   CGP 130x130px Leader Yoshikatsu Takeiri Kasuga Ikkō Party Kōmeitō (1962–1998) Democratic Socialist Leader since 13 February 1967 August 1971 Leader's seat Tokyo–10th Aichi–1st Last election 10.91%, 47 seats 7.74%, 31 seats Seats won 29 19 Seat change 18 12 Popular vote 4,436,755 3,660,953 Percentage 8.46% 6.98% Swing 2.45pp 0.76pp
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Prime Minister before election Kakuei Tanaka Liberal Democratic Prime Minister after election Kakuei Tanaka Liberal Democratic

General elections were held in Japan on 10 December 1972. The result was a victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, which won 271 of the 491 seats. Voter turnout was 71.76%.

Results

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		LDP	JSP	JCP	Kōmeitō	DSP	Others	Ind.
Aichi	20	9	6		1	3		1
Akita	8	5	2	1
Aomori	7	5	1	1
Chiba	13	9	2	1				1
Ehime	9	6	2					1
Fukui	4	3	1
Fukuoka	19	5	4	3	2	3		2
Fukushima	12	10	2
Gifu	9	7	2
Gunma	10	7	3
Hiroshima	12	8	3			1
Hokkaido	22	11	9	1		1
Hyōgo	19	9	4	2	3	1
Ibaraki	12	9	3
Ishikawa	6	5	1
Iwate	8	5	3
Kagawa	6	4	2
Kagoshima	11	6	2					3
Kanagawa	14	5	3	3	2	1
Kōchi	5	3	1	1
Kumamoto	10	6	2		1			1
Kyoto	10	3	2	3		2
Mie	9	6	2		1
Miyagi	9	6	2	1
Miyazaki	6	3	2			1
Nagano	13	7	4	1		1
Nagasaki	9	5	2		1	1
Nara	5	3	1		1
Niigata	15	10	5
Ōita	7	5	2
Okayama	10	6	3		1
Okinawa	5	2	1				2
Osaka	23	7	4	6	6
Saga	5	4	1
Saitama	13	8	3	1	1
Shiga	5	4		1
Shimane	5	4	1
Shizuoka	14	8	3	1	1	1
Tochigi	10	6	3			1
Tokushima	5	3	1		1
Tokyo	39	13	7	10	6	1		2
Tottori	4	2	1					1
Toyama	6	2	2					2
Wakayama	6	3	1	1	1
Yamagata	8	5	3
Yamaguchi	9	6	2			1
Yamanashi	5	3	2
Total	491	271	118	38	29	19	2	14