1947 Japanese general election

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1947 Japanese general election
Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg
  1946 25 April 1947 1949  

All 468 seats in the House of Representatives
235 seats needed for a majority
Turnout67.95% (Decrease2.svg4.13pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Pian Shan Zhe  (cropped).jpg Shigeru Yoshida smiling2.jpg Hitoshi Ashida.jpg
Leader Tetsu Katayama Shigeru Yoshida Hitoshi Ashida
Party Socialist Liberal Democratic
Last election17.90%, 93 seats24.36%, 141 seatsDid not exist
Seats won143131124
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 50Decrease2.svg 10New
Popular vote7,176,8827,312,5246,960,270
Percentage26.23%26.73%25.44%
SwingIncrease2.svg8.33ppIncrease2.svg2.37ppNew

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Takeo Miki-2-1.jpg TOKUDA Kyuichi.jpg Shiro-Nakano-1 (infobox).png
Leader Takeo Miki Kyuichi Tokuda Shiro Nakano
Party National Cooperative JCP Farmers
Last electionDid not exist3.85%, 5 seatsDid not exist
Seats won3144
Seat changeNewDecrease2.svg1New
Popular vote1,915,9481,002,883214,754
Percentage7.00%3.67%0.78%
SwingNewDecrease2.svg0.18ppNew

1947 JAPAN GENERAL ELECTION, combined vote share.svg
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength

Prime Minister before election

Shigeru Yoshida
Liberal

Elected Prime Minister

Tetsu Katayama
Socialist

General elections were held in Japan on 25 April 1947. The Japan Socialist Party won 143 of the 468 seats, making it the largest party in the House of Representatives following the election. Voter turnout was 68%. [1] It was the last election technically held under the Meiji Constitution in preparation for the current Constitution of Japan which became effective several days later on 3 May 1947. The upper house of the Diet was also elected by the people under the new constitution, the first ordinary election of members of the House of Councillors had been held five days before.

Contents

Numerous prominent figures were elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in this election, including former Prime Minister and House of Peers member Kijūrō Shidehara, then-Prime Minister and former House of Peers member Shigeru Yoshida, and future Prime Ministers Tanzan Ishibashi, Zenko Suzuki and Kakuei Tanaka.

Yoshida remained Prime Minister following the election, acting until a successor was appointed – under the new Constitution, the cabinet depends on parliamentary support and must resign in the first Diet session after a House of Representatives election.

Results

Japan House of Representatives 1947.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Party 7,312,52426.73131−10
Japan Socialist Party 7,176,88226.23143+50
Democratic Party 6,960,27025.44124New
National Cooperative Party 1,915,9487.0031New
Japanese Communist Party 1,002,8833.674−1
Japan Farmers Party 214,7540.784New
Other parties1,174,6624.2917
Independents1,603,6845.8612−69
Vacant2
Total27,361,607100.004680
Valid votes27,361,60798.43
Invalid/blank votes436,1411.57
Total votes27,797,748100.00
Registered voters/turnout40,907,49367.95
Source: Oscarsson, Masumi

By prefecture

PrefectureTotal
seats
Seats won
JSP LP DP NCP JFP JCP OthersInd.Vacant
Aichi 1964621
Akita 83212
Aomori 72311
Chiba 131831
Ehime 9333
Fukui 431
Fukuoka 1973621
Fukushima 123441
Gifu 9243
Gunma 103151
Hiroshima 126312
Hokkaido 2287313
Hyōgo 1852101
Ibaraki 1232511
Ishikawa 6141
Iwate 8242
Kagawa 62211
Kagoshima 10214111
Kanagawa 136511
Kōchi 51211
Kumamoto 10235
Kyoto 10532
Mie 912411
Miyagi 93411
Miyazaki 6321
Nagano 13233311
Nagasaki 92421
Nara 51112
Niigata 15654
Ōita 72131
Okayama 103412
Okinawa 22
Osaka 199451
Saga 51211
Saitama 13463
Shiga 51211
Shimane 5221
Shizuoka 145522
Tochigi 1031411
Tokushima 5113
Tokyo 27128412
Tottori 4211
Toyama 61221
Wakayama 6231
Yamagata 8332
Yamaguchi 923211
Yamanashi 5221
Total468143131124315416122

Aftermath

Government formation

The 1st National Diet convened on 20 May. [2] After early coalition negotiations, Socialist Komakichi Matsuoka was elected Speaker of the lower house on 21 May, Democrat Man'itsu Tanaka Vice-Speaker. [3] The new constitution introduced a parliamentary system of government: the prime minister became elected by and responsible to the National Diet, with the House of Representatives now being able to override the upper house. On 23 May, both houses of the Diet elected the leader of the Socialist Party, Tetsu Katayama, as prime minister – virtually unopposed as Liberals and Democrats agreed to vote for Katayama even though coalition negotiations had not yet produced final results. SCAP Douglas MacArthur welcomed the choice, thereby reducing resistance by some politicians to a Socialist-led coalition government. The Socialists initially sought a Grand Coalition with the Liberals and possibly including Democrats and Cooperativists, but the Liberals refused. [4] Katayama eventually formed a coalition with the Democratic Party and the Kokumin Kyōdōtō (People's/National Cooperative Party), it could also count on support by the Ryokufūkai (Green Breeze Society), the largest group in the House of Councillors. Katayama was ceremonially appointed by the Emperor on 24 May, the other ministers in the Katayama Cabinet on 1 June after the conclusion of the coalition negotiations.

New government

The new government enacted several reforms sought by the SCAP, such as the dissolution of the powerful Home Ministry and anti-trust legislation to dismantle the zaibatsu. However, internal divisions in the Socialist Party soon surfaced and led to Katayama's resignation in February 1948 when the lower house budget committee, chaired by left-wing Socialist Mosaburō Suzuki, rejected the cabinet's draft budget. After an even shorter government under Katayama's deputy, Democrat Hitoshi Ashida, the coalition collapsed, and Liberal Shigeru Yoshida returned as prime minister in October 1948 by which time the Liberals (reformed as Democratic Liberal Party in March 1948) had gained the position as first party in the lower house by defectors from the Democratic Party and independents joining, though by far not an absolute majority. In December 1948, Yoshida staged a no-confidence vote (under the prevailing (SCAP) interpretation of the Constitution at the time, the House of Representatives could only be dissolved under the provisions of article 69; [5] referred to in Japanese as nareai kaisan (馴れ合い解散, "collusive dissolution")) to gain an outright DLP majority in the ensuing 1949 lower house election.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p381 ISBN   0-19-924959-8
  2. House of Representatives: Diet sessions
  3. House of Representatives: 衆議院歴代議長・副議長一覧
  4. Kohno, Masaru (1997): Japan’s Postwar Party Politics. Princeton, pp. 50–53
  5. Peter J. Herzog: Japan's Pseudo-Democracy, p. 35: The 1948 dissolution