1942 Japanese general election

none Empire of Japan parliamentary 1937 Japanese general election 1937 1946 Japanese general election 1946 All 466 seats in the House of Representatives 234 30 April 1942 Hideki Tojo 2 (3x4 cropped).jpg Hideki Tojo Imperial Rule Assistance Association 421 3x4.svg – Not endorsed DDDDDD – 85 381 File:1942 JAPAN GENERAL ELECTION, combined vote share.svg Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Hideki Tojo Taisei Yokusankai Hideki Tojo Taisei Yokusankai General elections were held in Japan on 30 April 1942 to elect members of the House of Representatives. They were the only elections held in Japan during World War II. By this time, the House of Representatives had lost much of its power to the military dictatorship, a process that had begun with the "Manchurian Incident" when the Imperial Army invaded Manchuria without approval from the (then still civilian) cabinet in 1931. Since 1932 when Admiral Viscount Saitō Makoto was appointed prime minister of the first so-called "national unity cabinet", fewer members of the political parties in the House of Representatives had held any significant role in government. Additionally, the military had by this point sought to transform Japan into a one-party state. Background The government of prime minister Hideki Tojo held the election as a "General Election to Support the Greater East Asia War" at the end of April 1942, just days after the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.Tsuzuki Chushichi The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 2000 Oxford University Press 9780191542459 https://books.google.com/books?id=2GdKF8ozQOIC&q=japan+1942+election+turnout&pg=PA302 In 1940, all political parties were forced to merge into the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Taisei Yokusankai), a pro-military political organization headed by former prime minister Nobuyuki Abe. The likewise fascist Tōhōkai broke away from the Taisei Yokusankai and turned against prime minister Tojo. Among those running against the Taisei Yokusankai, only the Tōhōkai was allowed to run in the election as non-partisans. Among those anti-war and neutral politicians, the comparatively mild politicians also ran as non-partisans. Some "independents" who failed to gain a seat were expelled. After the war, those "independents" and ousted politicians were mainly the ruling class. As communist, left-wing, and anti-war groups had been illegal since 1940, they could not name a candidate in the election. Communists, left-wing politicians and radical anti-military politicians were arrested and not even allowed to run as independents, although anti-war politician Saitō Takao who was expelled from the diet in 1941 was re-elected again.January 2014 Notwithstanding the Tojo government's efforts, 613 candidates stood without endorsement while only 466 were endorsed. Several non-endorsed candidates managed to win seats in the election, including Ichiro Hatoyama (who later served as prime minister and was the grandfather of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama), Takeo Miki (who later served as prime minister), Kan Abe (the grandfather of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) and Bukichi Miki.Japanese prime minister's another DNA http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2013102834278 15 January 2014 Dong-A Ilbo 28 October 2013Saunavaara Juha Occupation Authorities, the Hatoyama Purge and the Making of Japan's Postwar Political Order Japan Focus 28 September 2009 http://www.japanfocus.org/-Juha-Saunavaara/3229 15 January 2014 The Tojo Cabinet marked those representatives elected who were not Taisei Yokusankai members as "not endorsed" in the official result. Several of them, such as Hatoyama, were subject to the purge by the Allied authorities following the war although they were not cooperating with the Tojo government. The turnout of the election was unusually high at 83.1%, partly reflecting the fierceness of the electoral battle. Results The government won 381 seats out of the total 466; in some districts, its candidates won uncontested. The Imperial Army had gained a victory in almost every battle as of the election, public support for the war was still quite high, which was the main reason for the landslide victory of the Taisei Yokusankai. Although Japan nominally became a one-party state as a result of the election, the group of Yokusankai-endorsed candidates soon split into numerous factions, some of which became critical of the government as the war dragged on. File:Japanese Parliament 1942.svg Imperial Rule Assistance Association 381 Not endorsed 85 12137086 14594287 Statistics Bureau of JapanStatistics Bureau of Japan By prefecture PrefectureTotalseatsSeats wonIRAANot endorsedAichi17143Akita752Aomori633Chiba1192Ehime981Fukui541Fukuoka18153Fukushima1192Gifu972Gunma99Hiroshima1394Hokkaido20173Hyōgo19145Ibaraki1192Ishikawa66Iwate77Kagawa633Kagoshima1212Kanagawa11101Kōchi651Kumamoto1010Kyoto1183Mie954Miyagi862Miyazaki55Nagano1313Nagasaki99Nara541Niigata15123Ōita77Okayama1073Okinawa532Osaka21174Saga642Saitama1111Shiga55Shimane642Shizuoka13103Tochigi981Tokushima651Tokyo312110Tottori44Toyama651Wakayama651Yamagata862Yamaguchi981Yamanashi541Total46638185 References Category:General elections in Japan Japan General Category:Politics of the Empire of Japan Japan Category:One-party elections Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results