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All 466 seats to the House of Representatives 234 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Japan |
General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1932. [1] They were the last elections before the May 15 Incident, which marked the temporary end of party politics in Japan. Rikken Seiyūkai won 301 of the 466 seats in the House of Representatives.
The May 15 Incident was an attempted coup d'état in the Empire of Japan, on May 15, 1932, launched by reactionary elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy, aided by cadets in the Imperial Japanese Army and civilian remnants of the ultra nationalist League of Blood. Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated by 11 young naval officers. The following trial and popular support of the Japanese population led to extremely light sentences for the assassins, strengthening the rising power of Japanese militarism and weakening democracy and the rule of law in the Empire of Japan.
The Rikken Seiyūkai was one of the main political parties in the pre-war Empire of Japan. It was also known simply as the "Seiyūkai".
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house.
In 1931, the ruling Rikken Minseitō opposed the Mukden Incident, which was engineered by the military. The anti-war Foreign Minister Kijuro Shidehara and Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō were criticized for their intervention in military and was accused of "serious corruption". After the resignation of the Reijirō Cabinet, some right-wing members of the ruling party formed a coalition with the opposition Rikken Seiyūkai and elected Inukai Tsuyoshi as prime minister.
The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was an event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China, known as Manchuria.
Baron Wakatsuki Reijirō was a Japanese politician and the 25th and 28th Prime Minister of Japan.
Inukai Tsuyoshi was a Japanese politician, cabinet minister, and Prime Minister of Japan from 13 December 1931 to his assassination on 15 May 1932.
Before the elections, some businessmen and candidates were assassinated by the right-wing.
Despite assassinations of anti-war politicians, Rikken Minseitō was unpopular because of its mishandling of the economic crisis. The ruling right-wing Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi won a landslide victory.
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries it started in 1929 and lasted until the late-1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how intensely the world's economy can decline.
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rikken Seiyūkai | 5,683,137 | 58.20 | 301 | +127 |
Rikken Minseitō | 3,442,326 | 35.25 | 146 | –127 |
Social Democratic Party | 125,758 | 1.29 | 3 | +1 |
Shakai Taishūtō | 127,459 | 1.31 | 2 | New |
Kakushintō | 36,839 | 0.38 | 2 | –1 |
Other parties | 1,445 | 0.01 | 0 | – |
Independents | 347,668 | 3.56 | 12 | +7 |
Invalid/blank votes | 49,036 | – | – | – |
Total | 9,813,668 | 100 | 466 | 0 |
Registered voters/turnout | 13,103,679 | 74.89 | – | – |
Source: Voice Japan |
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Hamaguchi Osachi was a Japanese politician, cabinet minister and Prime Minister of Japan from 2 July 1929 to 14 April 1931. Nicknamed the "Lion Prime Minister" due to his dignified demeanor and mane-like hair, Hamaguchi served as leading member of the liberal Rikken Minseitō during the "Taishō Democracy" of interwar Japan; he survived an assassination attempt by a right-wing fanatic in 1930, but died about eight months later.
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Political parties appeared in Japan after the Meiji Restoration, and gradually increased in importance after the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution and the creation of the Diet of Japan. During the Taishō period, parliamentary democracy based on party politics temporarily succeeded in Japan, but in the 1930s the political parties were eclipsed by the military, and were dissolved in the 1940s during World War II
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