ABSTRACT
Before 1993, Kagoshima maintained an extreme version of Japan's ‘one-and-a-half party system’. A dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was checked by a smaller Japan Socialist Party (JSP), which itself dominated the opposition. What remains is the LDP, and the prefecture is becoming a one-party system. Electoral system change has re-shaped Kagoshima politics, but party realignment has largely passed the prefecture by — as it has since 1955. Prior to the 1993 election, the Amami SMD was eliminated and appended to the old 1st district, and the introduction of its two leading candidates to the mainland ultimately proved to shape outcomes in Kagoshima's most closely contested post-1993 districts. Realignment in Kagoshima has since strengthened the LDP at the Socialists' expense, with little intrusion from new parties or shifting Diet coalitions. The 2000 election results were similar to those of 1996: Yasuoka and the LDP received 47 per cent, Kawauchi and the DPJ 43 per cent, and the Communist 9 per cent.
