Japanese general election, 1917

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Japanese general election, 1917
Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg
  1915 20 April 1917 1920  

All 381 seats to the House of Representatives
191 seats were needed for a majority

  First party Second party
  Takashi Hara posing.jpg Takaaki Kato suit.jpg
Leader Hara Takashi Kato Takaaki
Party Seiyūkai Kenseikai
Last election 108 seats, 31.5% 
Seats won 165 121
Seat changeIncrease2.svg57 
Popular vote 504,720 467,518
Percentage 38.8% 36.0%
SwingIncrease2.svg7.3% 

  Third party
  Inukai Tsuyoshi.jpg
Leader Inukai Tsuyoshi
Party Kokumintō
Last election 27 seats, 7.5%
Seats won 35
Seat changeIncrease2.svg7
Popular vote 125,974
Percentage 9.7%
SwingIncrease2.svg2.2%

Japanese General election, 1917 ja.png


Prime Minister before election

Terauchi Masatake
Independent

Subsequent Prime Minister

Terauchi Masatake
Independent

Imperial Seal of Japan.svg
This article is part of a series on the
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General elections were held in Japan on 20 April 1917. [1] The Rikken Seiyūkai party led by Hara Takashi emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 165 of the 381 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".

Hara Takashi Japanese politician

Hara Takashi was a Japanese politician and the 10th Prime Minister of Japan from 29 September 1918 until his assassination on 4 November 1921. He was also called Hara Kei informally. He was the first commoner appointed to the office of prime minister of Japan, giving him the informal title of "commoner prime minister". He was also the first Japanese Christian prime minister.

Contents

Electoral system

The 381 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation. [2]

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.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Rikken Seiyūkai 504,72038.8165+57
Kenseikai 467,51836.0121New
Rikken Kokumintō 125,9749.735+7
Others202,64015.660+12
Invalid/blank votes6,321
Total1,307,1731003810
Registered voters/turnout1,422,126
Source: Mackie & Rose, Voice Japan

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Events in the year 1915 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 4 (大正4年) in the Japanese calendar.

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References

  1. Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p281
  2. Mackie & Rose, p276