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1947 Japanese general election

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Field	Value
country	Japan
flag_year	1870
type	parliamentary
previous_election	1946 Japanese general election
previous_year	1946
election_date	25 April 1947
next_election	1949 Japanese general election
next_year	1949
seats_for_election	All 468 seats in the House of Representatives
majority_seats	235
turnout	67.95% (4.13pp)
image1	片山哲 (cropped).jpg
leader1	Tetsu Katayama
party1	Japan Socialist Party
last_election1	17.90%, 93 seats
seats1	143
seat_change1	50
popular_vote1	7,176,882
percentage1	26.23%
swing1	8.33pp
image2	Shigeru Yoshida smiling2.jpg
leader2	Shigeru Yoshida
party2	Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)
last_election2	24.36%, 141 seats
seats2	131
seat_change2	10
popular_vote2	7,312,524
percentage2	26.73%
swing2	2.37pp
image3	Hitoshi Ashida.jpg
leader3	Hitoshi Ashida
party3	Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)
last_election3	Did not exist
seats3	124
seat_change3	New
popular_vote3	6,960,270
percentage3	25.44%
swing3	New
image4	Takeo Miki-2-1.jpg
leader4	Takeo Miki
party4	National Cooperative Party
last_election4	Did not exist
seats4	31
seat_change4	New
popular_vote4	1,915,948
percentage4	7.00%
swing4	New
leader5	Kyuichi Tokuda
image5	TOKUDA Kyuichi.jpg
seats5	4
popular_vote5	1,002,883
percentage5	3.67%
seat_change5	1
party5	Japanese Communist Party
last_election5	3.85%, 5 seats
swing5	0.18pp
colour6	00ff00
image6	Shiro-Nakano-1 (infobox).png
party6	Japan Farmers Party (1947–1949)
seats6	4
percentage6	0.78%
popular_vote6	214,754
last_election6	Did not exist
seat_change6	New
swing6	New
leader6
map	[[File:1947 JAPAN GENERAL ELECTION, combined vote share.svg	400px]]
map_caption	Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
title	Prime Minister
before_election	Shigeru Yoshida
before_party	Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)
after_election	Tetsu Katayama
after_party	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%. 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

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total
seats	Seats won	JSP	LP	DP	NCP	JFP	JCP	Others	Ind.	Vacant	Japan Socialist Party}};"	Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)}};"	Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)}};"	National Cooperative Party}};"	Japan Farmers Party (1947–1949)}};"	Japanese Communist Party}};"	Independent}};"	Aichi	19	Akita	8	Aomori	7	Chiba	13	Ehime	9	Fukui	4	Fukuoka	19	Fukushima	12	Gifu	9	Gunma	10	Hiroshima	12	Hokkaido	22	Hyōgo	18	Ibaraki	12	Ishikawa	6	Iwate	8	Kagawa	6	Kagoshima	10	Kanagawa	13	Kōchi	5	Kumamoto	10	Kyoto	10	Mie	9	Miyagi	9	Miyazaki	6	Nagano	13	Nagasaki	9	Nara	5	Niigata	15	Ōita	7	Okayama	10	Okinawa	2	Osaka	19	Saga	5	Saitama	13	Shiga	5	Shimane	5	Shizuoka	14	Tochigi	10	Tokushima	5	Tokyo	27	Tottori	4	Toyama	6	Wakayama	6	Yamagata	8	Yamaguchi	9	Yamanashi	5	Total	468	143	131	124	31	5	4	16	12	2
6	4	6	2	1
3	2	1				2
	2	3	1			1
1	8	3					1
3	3	3
		3				1
7	3	6				2	1
3	4	4				1
2	4	3
3	1	5	1
6	3	1	2
8	7	3	1	3
5	2	10	1
3	2	5	1			1
	1	4					1
2	4	2
2		2	1			1
2	1	4	1			1	1
6	5	1	1
1	2	1					1
2	3	5
5	3	2
1	2	4				1	1
3	4	1				1
3			2				1
2	3	3	3		1	1
2	4	2				1
1	1			1			2
6	5	4
2	1	3	1
3	4	1	2
								2
9	4	5					1
1	2	1	1
4	6	3
1	2	1	1
2		2			1
5	5	2	2
3	1	4	1				1
1	1		3
12	8	4	1		2
2	1					1
1	2	2	1
2	3		1
3	3	2
2	3	2				1	1
2	2	1

Aftermath

Government formation

The 1st National Diet convened on 20 May. After early coalition negotiations, Socialist Komakichi Matsuoka 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 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; referred to in Japanese as ja (馴れ合い解散, "collusive dissolution")) to gain an outright DLP majority in the ensuing 1949 lower house election.

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p381 {{ISBN. 0-19-924959-8
[https://www.e-elgar.com/assets/Companion-Pages/Oscarsson-HbkPolitical/caa3f6139f/18-Chapter-18_Appendix.pdf Oscarsson]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=gzb5FtpY-ekC&pg=PA157 Masumi]
House of Representatives: [http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_annai.nsf/html/statics/shiryo/kaiki.htm Diet sessions]
House of Representatives: [http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_annai.nsf/html/statics/shiryo/rekidai.html 衆議院歴代議長・副議長一覧]
Kohno, Masaru (1997): Japan’s Postwar Party Politics. Princeton, pp. 50–53
Peter J. Herzog: Japan's Pseudo-Democracy, p. 35: The 1948 dissolution

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