Japanese general election, 1902

Last updated
Japanese general election, 1902
Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg
←  1898 (Sep) 10 August 1902 1903  →
All 376 seats to the House of Representatives
189 seats were needed for a majority

  First party Second party
  Ito Hirobumi.jpg Shigenobu Okuma 5.jpg
Leader Itō Hirobumi Ōkuma Shigenobu
Party Seiyūkai Kensei Hontō
Last election – –
Seats won 191 95
Seat change – –
Popular vote 433,763 220,939
Percentage 50.4% 25.7%
Prime Minister before election

Katsura Tarō
Independent

Subsequent Prime Minister

Katsura Tarō
Independent

Japan
Imperial Seal of Japan.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Japan

Flag of Japan.svg Japanportal

General elections were held in Japan on 10 August 1902. [1] The result was a victory for the Rikken Seiyūkai party, which won 191 of the 376 seats.

Japan Constitutional monarchy in East Asia

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

Rikken Seiyūkai early 20th century Japanese political party

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".

Contents

Electoral system

Electoral reforms in 1900 had abolished the 253 single and two-member constituencies. The 376 members of the House of Representatives were now elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. [2]

House of Representatives (Japan) lower house of Japan

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house.

Prefectures of Japan countrys 47 first-order subnational jurisdictions

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, forming the first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They consist of 43 prefectures proper, two urban prefectures, one "circuit" or "territory" and one "metropolis". The Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures from 1868 to replace the urban and rural administrators in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not submitted to the new government such as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the turn of the century. In many instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.

Voting remained restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation, although 1900 electoral reforms had reduced the figure from 15 yen, increasing the proportion of the population able to vote from 1% to 2%. [2]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Rikken Seiyūkai 433,76350.4191New
Kensei Hontō 220,93925.795New
Teikokutō 37,7494.417New
Jinin Kai 35,9504.228New
Dōshi Club 24,5412.913New
Others107,67812.532–
Invalid/blank votes8,098–––
Total868,768100376+76
Registered voters/turnout982,86888.4––
Source: Mackie & Rose, Voice Japan

Related Research Articles

1928 Japanese general election general election in 1928

General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1928, the first after the introduction of universal male suffrage. The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Rikken Minseitō led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although Rikken Minseitō had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.

1924 Japanese general election general election in 1924

General elections were held in Japan on 10 May 1924. No party won a majority of seats, resulting in Kenseikai, Rikken Seiyūkai and the Kakushin Club forming the country's first coalition government led by Katō Takaaki.

General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1936. Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 205 of the 466 seats.

1903 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 1 March 1903. The Rikken Seiyūkai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 175 of the 376 seats, but lost its majority.

1908 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 15 May 1908. The result was a victory for the Rikken Seiyūkai party, which won 187 of the 379 seats.

1920 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 10 May 1920. The result was a victory for the Rikken Seiyūkai party led by Hara Takashi, which won 278 of the 464 seats.

1848 Belgian general election

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 13 June 1848. They followed an equalisation of the tax qualifications for voters, which widened the franchise from 1.0% of the population to 1.8%. Unlike the previous rules which had favoured Conservatives and Catholics, this benefitted the Liberal Party and damaged the Catholics, who lost more than half their seats.

1852 Belgian general election

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 8 June 1852. In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives the result was a victory for the Liberal Party, who won 57 of the 108 seats. Voter turnout was 69.2%, although only 42,053 people were eligible to vote.

1917 Japanese general election general election in 1917

General elections were held in Japan on 20 April 1917. The Rikken Seiyūkai party led by Hara Takashi emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 165 of the 381 seats.

1896 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 25 October 1896. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1899 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 26 October 1899. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1902 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 26 October 1902. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1905 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 29 October 1905. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1908 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 29 October 1908. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1911 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 29 October 1911. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1917 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 28 October 1917. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council. They were the last elections held under the majoritarian system; following a referendum in 1918 in which two-thirds of voters voted for the introduction of proportional representation, the electoral system was changed and early elections held in 1919.

1914 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 25 October 1914. The Free Democratic Party retained its majority in the National Council.

1904 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 1 March 1904. The Rikken Seiyūkai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 133 of the 379 seats.

1912 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 15 May 1912. The result was a victory for the Rikken Seiyūkai party, which won 209 of the 381 seats.

1915 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 25 March 1915. The Rikken Dōshikai party emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 153 of the 381 seats.

References

  1. ↑ Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p281
  2. 1 2 Mackie & Rose, p276
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.