A total of 237 candidates (including graduate students) were selected this year, including 88 AKB48 members, 64 SKE48 members, 64 NMB48 members and 21 HKT48 members. Atsuko Maeda, the No. 1 in the previous election, withdrew from the current election www.biquge.info. The voting period began at 10 a.m. on May 22, 2012 and ended at 3 p.m. on June 5, 2012, and the results were announced at the Nippon Budokan on June 6, 2012, and the voting hosts were the same as in 2011, Kazuo Tokumitsu and Ayako Kisa .

This general election is bigger than the previous one. First, the number of candidates in the general election has increased from 150 last year to 237, and the number of seats elected has also increased from 40 to 64. Second, this is the first time that Fuji TV has broadcast the voting process live[5] on a television station, as well as on YouTube and Google+. The General Election has also attracted a lot of media attention. A total of 133 domestic media companies (168 media, 700 people) and journalists from 8 countries and regions (Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Taiwan, France, Australia, and South Korea) attended the ticketing session.

AKB48 held "Business Contact" on March 25, 2012. Please, Minister Katayama!in Saitama Super Arena" concert will announce the holding of the 4th General Election. The voting period began at 10 a.m. on May 22 and ended at 2:59 p.m. on June 5 of the same year, spanning 15 days. The flash report was announced at the AKB48 theater on May 23. The final results were announced at the Nippon Budokan on June 6, 2012.

The following 10 groups of people have the right to vote:

AKB48's 26th single "Midsummer Sounds Good!" is a regular and first limited edition buyer

He is a member of the AKB48 fan club "Nihonjo no Kai".

AKB48 Mobile membership

SKE48 Mobile membership

NMB48 Mobile member

HKT48 Mobile Member

AKB48 LIVE!! ON DEMAND monthly membership

AKB48 official smartphone member

SKE48 LIVE!! ON DEMAND monthly membership

Member of AKB OFFICIAL NET

According to the official website of AKB48, the method of counting votes is the same as in previous years, and the votes are counted by a third party that is not related to AKB48. The invoicing process will be supervised by a lawyer. On that day, the lawyer will bring the envelope containing the results to the venue, and then the master of ceremonies will cut the envelope on the stage to reveal it.

The members who won the first place will broadcast their "Confession" speech live on YouTube and Google+ at 11 p.m. on the day of the vote.

For the first time this year, Fuji Television will broadcast a special program "AKB48 4th Selection General Election Special Live Broadcast" (第四選抜総選挙生播送SP), which will broadcast the entire voting process live from 7 o'clock. In the program, anchors Ito Toshihiro and Yamazaki Yuki were in charge of hosting at the studio, and the guests were Kenne, Ryota Yamazato and others, and the scene at the Nippon Budokan was hosted by anchor Kazuhiro Watanabe. Atsuko Maeda, who has withdrawn from the election, also attended the live broadcast. The program uses an L-shaped screen like a regular election program to allow for a live view and insertion of flash announcements at any time.

In addition, the invoicing process will be live-streamed on Google+'s dedicated website and on YouTube's official AKB48 channel. For overseas fans, the live broadcast is available in both Japanese and English. On Google+'s special website, if the audience is moved or sympathetic to the situation, they can press the "+1" button immediately, and the website will display a graph of how many people pressed "+1" at that time.

There will be no live broadcast from any cinema in this year's General Election.

In addition to Japan, AKB48 officials have also held a number of events overseas for the general election. In China, AKB48 held the "China AKB48 General Election 2012" online, with Mayu Watanabe, Yuki Kashiwagi and Yuko Oshima in the first three places. In addition, "Weibo Prediction Activities" were also held on Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. [In Taiwan, AKB48 officially held live events at the Strategist's Nanjing store and AKB48 Cafe at Eslite 116 in Ximending.] In Hong Kong, a live broadcast event was also held at the West Kowloon Centre, home to AKB48's Hong Kong boutique.

The ticketing session was held at the Nippon Budokan and was attended by about 12,000 spectators. There are four types of seats: the "Dead Space Seat" (1,500 yen), which has a hard view of the stage, the "Right Here" seat (480 yen, directly behind the stage), the "2nd floor seat" (2,000 yen), and the regular "Reserved Seat" (3,000 yen).

The number of elected candidates has been increased from 40 in the previous term to 64. The number of members of the singles selection was reduced from 21 to 16 in the previous year, and the "media selection" system was abolished. The members of the previous edition were reorganized into three groups: Under Girls (17th to 32nd), Next Girls (33rd to 48th), and Future Girls (49th to 64th). All members in rank 65 or below are "outside the circle".

Since there were 237 candidates, the success rate was about 27.0 per cent. The members of the singles selection were able to sing the A-side of AKB48's 27th single, while the other three groups each sang a different B-side song. Among the 64 people, the 1st, 17th, 33rd, and 49th places are the center positions of these four songs, respectively. The "center" is the most striking position in the choreographer's position, and as the rankings drop, the stance becomes even lower, and members outside the circle can't even work on the 27th single.

In fact, this is the most watched general election since the establishment of AKB48, and Zhu Zi, who was originally the boss of NTV, could get the right to live TV, but in the end he weighed the pros and cons and chose to give up the live general election.

Compared with AKB48, he hopes that Nogizaka 46's future programs will focus on NTV.

And now NTV's development and ratings are better than Fuji TV's, and there is no need for him to interrupt the current NTV business model.

Before the general election, the members, staff, and many spectators and fans showed up at the venue in twos and threes.

Of course, the members of AKB48 are backstage preparing for the show.

When Zhu Zi appeared backstage, the members applauded, which made Zhu Zi a little confused.

At this time, two girls, Aya Yamamoto and Nana Yamada, came over to greet Zhu Zi.

"Yamamoto, Yamada, do you know why these girls are so happy to see me? Although I am more handsome and amiable than Akimoto-sensei, you don't need to be like this, right?"

Aya Yamamoto and Nana Yamada glanced at each other.

"Teacher Zhu Zi, don't you know?" said Yamamoto in confusion.

"I don't know. ”

"On Nagasawa-san's birthday, didn't you post a lot of photos on your INS? There are photos of you wiping your tears for Nagasawa-san, and everyone felt very moved, so they couldn't help but applaud after seeing you. ”

Zhu Zi's face is strange, this group of girls is really stupid, so they have to applaud, it seems that they have to be charming.

"How is it?, do you two have any goals for this general election?" Zhu Zi asked with a smile.

"It's great to be able to get in, but it's very difficult. Aya Yamamoto.