| Country: | Japan |
| Flag Year: | 1870 |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1979 Japanese general election |
| Previous Year: | 1979 |
| Election Date: | 22 June 1980 |
| Next Election: | 1983 Japanese general election |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
| Seats For Election: | All 511 seats in the House of Representatives |
| Majority Seats: | 256 |
| Turnout: | 74.57% (6.56%) |
| Leader1: | Masayoshi Ōhira† |
| Party1: | Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) |
| Last Election1: | 44.59%, 248 seats |
| Seats1: | 284 |
| Seat Change1: | 36 |
| Popular Vote1: | 28,262,441 |
| Percentage1: | 47.88% |
| Swing1: | 3.29pp |
| Leader2: | Ichio Asukata |
| Party2: | Japan Socialist Party |
| Last Election2: | 19.71%, 107 seats |
| Seats2: | 107 |
| Popular Vote2: | 11,400,748 |
| Percentage2: | 19.31% |
| Swing2: | 0.40pp |
| Leader3: | Yoshikatsu Takeiri |
| Party3: | Kōmeitō (1962–1998) |
| Last Election3: | 9.78%, 57 seats |
| Seats3: | 33 |
| Seat Change3: | 24 |
| Popular Vote3: | 5,329,942 |
| Percentage3: | 9.03% |
| Swing3: | 0.74pp |
| Leader4: | Sasaki Ryōsaku |
| Party4: | Democratic Socialist Party (Japan) |
| Last Election4: | 6.78%, 35 seats |
| Seats4: | 32 |
| Seat Change4: | 4 |
| Popular Vote4: | 3,896,728 |
| Percentage4: | 6.60% |
| Swing4: | 0.18pp |
| Leader5: | Kenji Miyamoto |
| Party5: | Japanese Communist Party |
| Last Election5: | 10.42%, 39 seats |
| Seats5: | 29 |
| Seat Change5: | 10 |
| Popular Vote5: | 5,803,613 |
| Percentage5: | 9.83% |
| Swing5: | 0.59pp |
| Prime Minister | |
| Before Party: | Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) |
| After Party: | Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) |
General elections were held in Japan on 22 June 1980. They were the result of a vote of no confidence brought by the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) on 16 May regarding corruption and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of Representatives of Japan (lower house) to withdraw its backing from the government.
Unexpectedly, 69 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of the Diet from the Fukuda Takeo, Miki Takeo and Hidenao Nakagawa factions abstained from voting on the motion. The government was defeated by 56 votes in total of 243 and resigned.
For the first time, elections for both houses of the Diet were called in June 1980. During the election, Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party died during the campaign. Ōhira had expected the vote of no confidence to fail, and was visibly shaken when it passed by a margin of 243–187. Sixty-nine members of his own LDP, including Fukuda, abstained. Given the choice of resigning or calling new elections, Ōhira chose the latter and began campaigning for LDP candidates. He was hospitalized for exhaustion on 31 May and died of a massive heart attack 12 days later.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Masayoshi Ito acted in Ōhira's place as deputy after his death. In the elections of both the houses LDP gained a majority. The election results for the lower house are shown in the table below. Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Secretary General of LDP, led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the "sympathy vote" generated by Ōhira's death. The Prime Minister was succeeded by Zenkō Suzuki after the election.
| Prefecture | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDP | JSP | Kōmeitō | DSP | JCP | NLC | SDF | Ind. | |||
| Aichi | 22 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Akita | 8 | 5 | 3 | |||||||
| Aomori | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Chiba | 16 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Ehime | 9 | 6 | 3 | |||||||
| Fukui | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| Fukuoka | 19 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Fukushima | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Gifu | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Gunma | 10 | 7 | 3 | |||||||
| Hiroshima | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hokkaido | 22 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hyōgo | 20 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Ibaraki | 12 | 9 | 3 | |||||||
| Ishikawa | 6 | 5 | 1 | |||||||
| Iwate | 8 | 6 | 2 | |||||||
| Kagawa | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Kagoshima | 11 | 9 | 2 | |||||||
| Kanagawa | 19 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Kōchi | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Kumamoto | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Kyoto | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Mie | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Miyagi | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Miyazaki | 6 | 5 | 1 | |||||||
| Nagano | 13 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Nagasaki | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Nara | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Niigata | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | ||||||
| Ōita | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Okayama | 10 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Okinawa | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Osaka | 26 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 1 | |||
| Saga | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Saitama | 15 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Shiga | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Shimane | 5 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| Shizuoka | 14 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Tochigi | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Tokushima | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Tokyo | 43 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Tottori | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Toyama | 6 | 5 | 1 | |||||||
| Wakayama | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Yamagata | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Yamaguchi | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Yamanashi | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Total | 511 | 284 | 107 | 33 | 32 | 29 | 12 | 3 | 11 | |