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%. It was the last election technically held under the
Meiji Constitution
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in for ...
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
The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...
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
Kijuro Shidehara, then-Prime Minister and former House of Peers member
Shigeru Yoshida
(22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. Yoshida was one of the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers, and is the third-long ...
, 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
By prefecture
Aftermath
Government formation
The 1st National Diet convened on 20 May. After early coalition negotiations, Socialist
Komakichi Matsuoka
was a Japanese politician and labor activist. Born in Iwami Province (present day Tottori Prefecture), Matsuoka was a steelworker at Japan Steel Works who joined Suzuki Bunji as a business agent at the predecessor to the Japanese Federation of ...
was elected Speaker of the lower house on 21 May, Democrat
Man'itsu Tanaka Vice-Speaker. 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. 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
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
and anti-trust legislation to dismantle the
zaibatsu
is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period unt ...
. 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 ' (馴れ合い解散, "collusive dissolution")) to gain an outright DLP majority in the ensuing 1949 lower house election.
References
{{Japanese elections
Japan
1947 elections in Japan
General elections in Japan
April 1947 events in Asia
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results