Women Candidates Reach Record High in Upcoming Japan Election

• The percentage of women running for lower house seats in the Feb. 8, 2024 election has increased
• 23.4% in the 2021 lower house election to 24.4% in the current election
• There were 314 women candidates running for election in 2024

At present, there are a record-high number of female candidates competing for Lower House seats in the 2024 National election on February 8, with 313 or 24.4% of the candidates being female.

This surpasses the previous record set by 314 female candidates running for Lower House elections in 2020 (23.4%).

As a number, there are still not enough female candidates to meet the government's goal of 35 percent female representation among all candidates for national elections.

In terms of percentage of females among all candidates, Sanseito has the most female candidates at 43.2 percent, followed by Reiwa Shinsengumi (38.7 percent) and JCP (38.1 percent). The LDP has the lowest female percentage of 12.8 percent and the Centrist Reform Alliance (Chudo) has 19.9 percent.

In terms of the total number of candidates, Sanseito has the highest number of female candidates (82), JCP (67), Chudo (47) and LDP (43).