1947 Japanese general election

none Japan 1870 parliamentary 1946 Japanese general election 1946 25 April 1947 1949 Japanese general election 1949 All 468 seats in the House of Representatives 235 130x130px 67.95% ( 4.13pp) 片山哲 (cropped).jpg Tetsu Katayama Japan Socialist Party 17.90%, 93 seats 143 50 7,176,882 26.23% 8.33pp Shigeru Yoshida smiling2.jpg Shigeru Yoshida Liberal Party (Japan, 1945) 24.36%, 141 seats 131 10 7,312,524 26.73% 2.37pp Hitoshi Ashida.jpg Hitoshi Ashida Democratic Party (Japan, 1947) Did not exist 124 New 6,960,270 25.44% New Takeo Miki-2-1.jpg Takeo Miki National Cooperative Party Did not exist 31 New 1,915,948 7.00% New Kyuichi Tokuda TOKUDA Kyuichi.jpg 4 1,002,883 3.67% 1 Japanese Communist Party 3.85%, 5 seats 0.18pp 00ff00 Shiro-Nakano-1 (infobox).png Japan Farmers Party (1947–1949) 4 0.78% 214,754 Did not exist New New Shiro Nakano ja 中野四郎 400px Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida Liberal Party (Japan, 1945) Tetsu Katayama Japan Socialist Party 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%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p381 0-19-924959-8 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. 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 File:Japan House of Representatives 1947.svg Liberal Party 7312524 131 −10 Japan Socialist Party 7176882 143 +50 Democratic Party 6960270 124 New National Cooperative Party 1915948 31 New Japanese Communist Party 1002883 4 −1 Japan Farmers Party 214754 4 New Other parties 1174662 17 – Independents 1603684 12 −69 Vacant 2 – 436141 40907493 0 Oscarsson,Oscarsson MasumiMasumi By prefecture PrefectureTotalseatsSeats wonJSPLPDPNCPJFPJCPOthersInd.Vacant Aichi1964621Akita83212Aomori72311Chiba131831Ehime9333Fukui431Fukuoka1973621Fukushima123441Gifu9243Gunma103151Hiroshima126312Hokkaido2287313Hyōgo1852101Ibaraki1232511Ishikawa6141Iwate8242Kagawa62211Kagoshima10214111Kanagawa136511Kōchi51211Kumamoto10235Kyoto10532Mie912411Miyagi93411Miyazaki6321Nagano13233311Nagasaki92421Nara51112Niigata15654Ōita72131Okayama103412Okinawa22Osaka199451Saga51211Saitama13463Shiga51211Shimane5221Shizuoka145522Tochigi1031411Tokushima5113Tokyo27128412Tottori4211Toyama61221Wakayama6231Yamagata8332Yamaguchi923211Yamanashi5221Total468143131124315416122 Aftermath Government formation The 1st National Diet convened on 20 May.House of Representatives: Diet sessions After early coalition negotiations, Socialist Komakichi Matsuoka was elected Speaker of the lower house on 21 May, Democrat Man'itsu Tanaka Vice-Speaker.House of Representatives: 衆議院歴代議長・副議長一覧 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.Kohno, Masaru (1997): Japan’s Postwar Party Politics. Princeton, pp. 50–53 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;Peter J. Herzog: Japan's Pseudo-Democracy, p. 35: The 1948 dissolution referred to in Japanese as ja nareai kaisan (馴れ合い解散, "collusive dissolution")) to gain an outright DLP majority in the ensuing 1949 lower house election. References Japan General Category:General elections in Japan Japan Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results