1949 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 23 January 1949. The result was a victory for the Democratic Liberal Party, which won 269 of the 466 seats.[1] Voter turnout was 74.0%. It was the first election held following the enactment of the current Constitution of Japan.

1949 Japanese general election

23 January 1949
All 466 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 234 seats needed for a majority
Leader Shigeru Yoshida Takeru Inukai Tetsu Katayama Party Democratic Liberal Democratic Socialist Seats won 269 70 48 Seat change New 62 96 Popular vote 13,583,289 4,828,189 4,129,794 Percentage 44.4% 15.8% 13.8% Swing New 10.5% 12.5%   Leader Kyuichi Tokuda Takeo Miki Party Communist National Cooperative Seats won 35 14 Seat change 31 17 Popular vote 2,984,780 1,041,879 Percentage 9.8% 3.4% Swing 6.1% 3.6%
Prime Minister before election Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal Prime Minister-designate Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal

Future prime ministers Hayato Ikeda and Eisaku Satō and future Foreign Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsuo Okazaki were first elected in this election.

The second cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was formed following the election.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Democratic Liberal Party	13,583,289	44.4	269	New
Democratic Party	4,828,189	15.8	70	–62
Japan Socialist Party	4,129,794	13.5	48	–96
Japanese Communist Party	2,984,780	9.8	35	+31
National Cooperative Party	1,041,879	3.4	14	–17
Other parties	2,125,591	6.9	22	+14
Independents	1,898,997	6.2	8	–10
Invalid/blank votes	582,438	–	–	–
Total	31,174,957	100	466	0
Source: Nohlen et al.

Vote share LP   44.40% DP   15.78% JSP   13.50% JCP   9.76% NCP   3.41% Independents   6.21% Others   6.95%

Parliament seats LP   57.73% DP   15.02% JSP   10.30% JCP   7.51% NCP   3.00% Independents   1.72% Others   4.72%

References

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