1)          Term of Office and Timing of the Election for DPJ President

According to party regulations, the President of the DPJ is elected to serve for a two-year term, with elections for the post taking place every two years in September, and a President’s term of office runs from the date of his appointment to September 30 two years later. However, should a President resign in the middle of his term of office, when circumstances demand a prompt response a new President is customarily elected by convening a General Meeting of DPJ Diet Members, a body which is equivalent to a party convention. In such a case, the newly elected President serves out the remainder of his predecessor’s term of office..

President Naoto Kan was elected by a General Meeting of Diet Members following the resignation of former President Yukio Hatoyama, and so his term of office ends on September 30, 2010, which would have been the end of Mr. Hatoyama’s term of office.

Therefore, the election for party President scheduled to take place this September is a regular bi-annual election as set forth in the party regulations, and as such, according to the rules governing the election for party President, will take place during the month of September, with votes cast not just by Diet members, but also by party members and supporters, including local assembly members.

2)          Eligible Voters and Point Weighing System

The following three types of voters are eligible to cast their vote in the election for party President. Votes are calculated in accordance with the number of points allocated to each type of voter.

a.          Party members and supporters
Votes cast by party members and supporters are counted in the single-seat constituency for the House of Representatives in which each individual resides, and the candidate who has gained the majority of votes in a particular constituency is awarded 1 point. The total number of points allocated to party members and supporters is 300 points in total, a number equivalent to the number of single seat constituencies in the House of Representatives.
*The results of the periodic enrollment of party members and supporters which took place this May have not yet been publically announced, but it is estimated that the DPJ has approximately 50,000 members and 300,000 supporters nationwide. Party members pay annual membership dues of 6,000 yen, and have various rights and obligations with regard to the party, whereas supporters pay annual membership dues of 2,000 yen and play a kind of informal supporting role for the party, but in terms of the election for party President, both members and supporters have the right to vote, and their votes have the same weight.

b.          Local assembly members.
Votes cast by local assembly members are collected on a national basis, and the 100 points allocated to local assembly members are divided up between the candidates using the d’Hondt method of proportional allocation.

c.          Diet members
Votes cast by Diet members are each worth 2 points.
Currently, there are no officially endorsed candidates for either the House of Representatives or the House of Councillors, and therefore the stipulation in the rules governing the election for party President that covers such candidates will not apply.

3. Candidates

Those eligible to stand as candidates in the election are Diet members who have obtained the endorsement of between 20 and 25 of their fellow Diet members.

4. Campaigning

The campaign period for the election for party President is 14 days, including polling day (one day longer than for national elections etc, which do not allow campaigning on polling day).
Candidates are in principle free to campaign as they wish, but the election administration committee may enforce certain restrictions.
Furthermore, election campaigning organized by the party and administered by the election administration committee may take place (campaign speech rally, electoral publicity)

5. Voting Methods, Vote Counting, and Determining the Winner

a.          Party members, supporters and local assembly members cast their votes by post using ballot papers that have been sent to them in advance. The election administration committee counts postal votes in advance in order to be in time for election day.

b.          Diet members cast their votes directly at a President’s Election Convention held on polling day, and their votes are immediately counted by the election administration committee.

c.          The number of points gained by each candidate through the voting by party members and supporters and by local assembly members is added to the number of points gained by each candidate through the voting by Diet members, and the candidate who has gained a majority of the votes is elected.

d.          If no candidate has gained a majority, then Diet members vote for one of the two leading candidates in a run-off election.

6. Administering and Monitoring of the Election

a.          Determining the date of the polling day.
The date of the polling day (date for convening an extraordinary party convention, in other words a President’s election convention) is determined by the Standing Officers Council.

b.          Monitoring of the election
Administering and monitoring of the election is carried out by the Central President’s Election Administration Committee, which is a permanent party body. The members of the aforesaid Committee must be no more than seven in number and currently six Diet members have been appointed to serve on the Committee.