1946 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 10 April 1946, the first after World War II. Voters had one, two or three votes, depending on how many MPs were elected from their constituency. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 148 of the 464 seats.[1] Voter turnout was 72.1 percent.

1946 Japanese general election

10 April 1946
All 466 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 234 seats needed for a majority
Leader Ichirō Hatoyama Chūji Machida Tetsu Katayama Party Liberal Progressive Socialist Seats won 148 110 96 Popular vote 14,082,575 11,232,610 10,069,907 Percentage 25.4% 20.3% 18.2%   Leader Sanehiko Yamamoto Kyuichi Tokuda Party Cooperative Communist Seats won 45 6 Popular vote 3,484,889 2,135,757 Percentage 6.3% 3.8%
House of Representatives conformation
Prime Minister before election Kijūrō Shidehara Nonpartisan Prime Minister-designate Shigeru Yoshida Liberal

Background

Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, who had been appointed by the Emperor in October 1945, dissolved the House of Representatives in December 1945. Shidehara had been working with Allied occupation commander Douglas MacArthur to implement a new constitution and other political reforms.

In the months following the war, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association caucus broke up and three major political parties emerged in the Diet, loosely based around the major parties that stood in the 1937 election prior to the war. The Liberal Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Seiyūkai members, while the Progressive Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Minseitō members and the Socialist Party was mainly composed of former Shakai Taishūtō members.

This was the first time Japanese women were allowed to vote. 39 women were elected to office, the largest number elected until the 2005 elections. On the other hand, Taiwanese and Koreans in Japan had their rights to vote and to run for office suspended.

Following the election, there was a brief attempt to keep the Shidehara cabinet alive by having Shidehara join the Progressive Party, which the other major parties opposed. The Liberals and Progressives agreed to form a government under Liberal leader Ichiro Hatoyama on 2 May, but Hatoyama was promptly purged on 4 May and a new government formed under Foreign Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who officially became Prime Minister on 22 May.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Liberal Party	14,082,575	25.4	148
Japan Progressive Party	11,232,610	20.3	110
Japan Socialist Party	10,069,907	18.2	96
Japan Cooperative Party	3,484,889	6.3	45
Japanese Communist Party	2,135,757	3.8	6
Other parties	6,692,357	12.0	33
Independents	7,750,784	14.0	26
Total valid votes	55,448,879	100	464
Invalid/blank ballots	482,000	–	–
Total ballots	28,582,175	100	464
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p381 ISBN 0-19-924959-8