Japan - Elections & Bills

Electoral System#

Japan uses Hare-quota proportional representation (pr_hareQuota) for Shūgiin, Sangiin, and Regional Council seats. Mixed-member proportional representation is not implemented.

Election Types#

Shugiin (House of Representatives)#

• 465 seats across 8 regions
• Duration: 192 hours (144h primary + 48h general)
• Term cycle: 4 game years (192 turns)
• All seats contested every cycle
• Can be dissolved via snap election

Sangiin (House of Councillors)#

• 248 seats across 8 regions, split into 2 staggered classes
• Duration: 144 hours (72h primary + 72h general)
• Term cycle: 6 game years (288 turns) per class; half-elections every 3 game years (144 turns)
• Every region contests both classes. Class 1 seats = ceil(regionSeats / 2) (125 total). Class 2 seats = floor(regionSeats / 2) (123 total). Together they sum to 248.
• Class 1 / Class 2 are not "some regions vs others." Hokkaido 4+3, Tohoku 10+10, Kanto 40+40, Chubu 22+22, Kansai 22+22, Chugoku 7+7, Shikoku 4+4, Kyushu 16+15.
• Cannot be dissolved - provides legislative continuity

Governor#

• 1 per region (8 total)
• Duration: 192 hours (144h primary + 48h general)
• Term cycle: 4 game years (192 turns)
• Uses generic ensurePerpetualElections path (same as US governors)

Snap Elections#

The PM can dissolve the Shugiin and trigger a snap election.

Rules#

• Who: Sitting PM only
• Limit: 2 snap elections per PM appointment (resets on new PM)
• Cooldown: 336 turns (2 real-time weeks) between snap elections
• Scope: Shugiin only - Sangiin is unaffected
• Duration: 48 hours (24h primary + 24h general)
• Election type: "snap_shugiin" (distinct from regular "shugiin")

Effects#

• All active/upcoming regular Shugiin elections are cancelled
• Fresh snap elections spawn for all 8 regions
• After resolution, the next regular Shūgiin cycle is anchored at the snap election's end turn plus 192 turns
• In-progress Shūgiin bills are failed. Sangiin-origin, Cabinet-review, and enrolled bills are preserved.
• Government resets to "pending" - new PM appointment process begins

Tracking#

• snapElectionsUsed: number on GovernmentFormation document
• lastSnapElectionTurn: number | null on GovernmentFormation document
• Both reset when a new PM is appointed

API#

• POST /api/country/[code]/pm/snap-election - PM-only, config-gated via snapElectionsAllowed

Major Party Spoiler Modeling#

Vote accumulation still uses configured major-party sets when applying spoiler redistribution before PR allocation:

• Kansai (KNS): { ishin, ldp } - Nippon Ishin dominates as opposition
• All other regions: { ldp, cdp } - from COUNTRY_CONFIGS.JP.majorPartyIds

Government Formation#

Parliamentary system matching the UK pattern:

1. Post-election: largest party leader nominated as PM
2. PM appointment vote in Shugiin (lower house only)
3. Coalition negotiation if no majority (coalitionThreshold: 233)
4. Minority government attempt if no coalition
5. No-confidence vote handling (48-turn cooldown)

Bills - Bicameral Lifecycle#

Diet Bill Flow#

Cabinet-origin:
  "cabinet_review" → "active" (Shugiin) → "active_other" (Sangiin) → "signed"
                                                 ↓ reject
                                           "override_shugiin" → "signed" / "failed"

Shugiin-origin (Diet member):
  "active" (Shugiin) → "active_other" (Sangiin) → "signed"
                              ↓ reject
                        "override_shugiin" → "signed" / "failed"

Sangiin-origin (Diet member):
  "active" (Sangiin) → "active_other" (Shugiin) → "signed"
                               ↓ reject
                            "failed"   (no override - Shugiin supremacy)

Key Differences from US System#

• No executive veto - passage in both chambers = enacted immediately
• Shugiin override - if Sangiin rejects, Shugiin can override with 2/3 supermajority
• Chamber keys: "shugiin" / "sangiin" (not "house" / "senate")

Cabinet-Origin Bills#

• PM or Cabinet members can propose bills through Cabinet review
• "cabinet_review" status with 24-hour vote duration
• PM + all player-held cabinet positions vote (simple majority, minimum 2 players)
• NPP-held positions don't vote and don't count against threshold
• On pass: enters normal Shugiin → Sangiin cycle with originChamber: "cabinet"
• Limit: 1 cabinet bill in "cabinet_review" at a time per country
• Config-gated: cabinetBillsEnabled: true (only JP in v1)

Diet-Member Bills#

Any seated Shūgiin or Sangiin member may propose a national bill.

• Proposals follow the shared Diet proposal form (category + 1-3 provisions), with the standard action-point and national-influence costs defined in shared/constants/legislation.ts10d ago.
• Origin chamber is the sponsor's own chamber - Shūgiin members originate in Shūgiin, Sangiin members originate in Sangiin.
• Second chamber is the opposing chamber. On passage there, the bill enacts (no executive signing step - Japan's parliamentary system has no PM signature).
• Shūgiin supremacy on rejection: if the second chamber rejects, behavior depends on origin:
  • Shūgiin-origin bills rejected by the Sangiin → Shūgiin 2/3 override vote.
  • Sangiin-origin bills rejected by the Shūgiin → fail outright; the Sangiin cannot override the Shūgiin.
• Cabinet bills continue to use the existing cabinet_review path (PM + ministers).