Japanese general election, 1937

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Japanese general election, 1937

Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg

←  1936 30 April 1937 1942  →
All 466 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan
234 seats needed for a majority

 First partySecond partyThird party
  Chuji machida.jpg Chikuhei nakajima.jpg Iso Abe.jpg
Leader Machida Chūji Chikuhei Nakajima &
three others [1] 		Abe Isoo
Party Minseitō Seiyūkai Taishūtō
Last election20517418
Seats won17917537
Seat changeDecrease2.svg26Increase2.svg1Increase2.svg19
Prime Minister before election

Senjūrō Hayashi
Imperial Army

Prime Minister

Senjūrō Hayashi
Imperial Army

Breakdown of seats in the Diet following the election Japanese General election, 1937 en.svg
Breakdown of seats in the Diet following the election

General elections were held in Japan on 31 March 1937. Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest in Parliament, with 179 of the 466 seats. The election was a major victory for the Shakai Taishūtō, which became the third-largest party in the Diet. It was the first socialist party to do so in Japanese history. In contrast, the mildly pro-military Rikken Minseitō lost several seats and fascist groups such as Tōhōkai remained minor forces in the House. A month after the election, the Emperor replaced Hayashi with Fumimaro Konoe. Voter turnout was 73.3%. [2]

Shakai Taishūtō

The Shakai Taishūtō was a moderate leftist political party in early Shōwa period Empire of Japan.

Tōhōkai former Japanese political party

Tōhōkai was a Japanese fascist political party in Japan, active in the 1930s and early 1940s. Its origins lay in the right-wing political organization Kokumin Domei which was formed by Adachi Kenzō in 1933 and which advocated National socialism. In 1936, Nakano Seigō disagreed with Adachi of matters of policy and formed a separate group, which he called the 'Tōhōkai'.

Fumimaro Konoe Japanese politician

Prince Fumimaro Konoe was a Japanese politician in the Empire of Japan who served as the 34th, 38th and 39th Prime Minister of Japan and founder/leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association. He was Prime Minister in the lead-up to Japan entering World War II.

Contents

Background

In February 1937, General Senjūrō Hayashi was appointed prime minister. Just days after taking office and having the Diet enact a budget bill, he ordered a dissolution of the House of Representatives, hoping to weaken the major political parties. The act was opposed by the major political parties as well as by the general public, and quickly became known as the " dine and dash dissolution"( 食い逃げ解散 ,kui-nige kaisan).

Senjūrō Hayashi Japanese general

Senjūrō Hayashi was an Imperial Japanese Army commander of the Chōsen Army of Japan in Korea during the Mukden Incident and the invasion of Manchuria, and a Japanese politician and the 33rd Prime Minister of Japan from 2 February 1937 to 4 June 1937.

A dine and dash is a form of theft by fraud, in which a patron orders and consumes food and beverages from a restaurant or similar establishment with the intent not to pay. The act may involve the customer leaving the restaurant with the intent of evading payment, or, less commonly, of the patron eating the food and then stating that they do not have any money.


In 1941, the Diet under the Konoe government passed a law extending the term of the Representatives from four years to five (衆議院議員任期延長ニ関スル法律). This allowed time to solidify the control of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association over Japanese politics. The Association effectively replaced all political parties in Japan and subsequently dominated the 1942 general election, although numerous factions developed within the Association's caucus in the House. The term extension was effectively repealed by the Constitution of Japan in 1947, which returned the representatives' term of office to 4 years.

Imperial Rule Assistance Association para-fascist organization in Japan

The Imperial Rule Assistance Association, or Imperial Aid Association, was Japan's wartime organization created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on October 12, 1940, to promote the goals of his Shintaisei movement. It evolved into a "statist" ruling political party which aimed at removing the sectionalism in the politics and economics in the Empire of Japan to create a totalitarian one-party state, in order to maximize the efficiency of Japan's total war effort in China. When the organization was launched officially, Konoe was hailed as a "political savior" of a nation in chaos; however, internal divisions soon appeared.

Constitution of Japan Japans current constitution

The Constitution of Japan is the fundamental law of Japan. It was enacted on 3 May 1947, as a new constitution for a post-war Japan.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Rikken Minseitō 3,689,35536.1179–26
Rikken Seiyūkai 3,594,86335.2175+1
Shakai Taishūtō 928,9349.037+19
Shōwakai 414,0884.119–1
Kokumin Dōmei 281,8342.811–4
Tōhōkai 221,4552.211New
Others1,073,15710.7340
Invalid/blank votes114,116–––
Total10,317,8021004660
Registered voters/turnout14,402,49773.3––
Source: Mackie & Rose, [3] Voice Japan

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References

  1. ↑ Ichirō Hatoyama, Yonezō Maeda and Toshio Shimada served as acting presidents alongside Nakajima until April 30, 1939, when Nakajima became president.
  2. ↑ The 20th House of Representatives election (in Japanese)
  3. ↑ Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, pp286–289
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