Japanese general election, 1949

23 January 1949

Japan

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General elections were held in Japan on 23 January 1949. The result was a victory for the 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.

Future prime ministers Hayato Ikeda and Eisaku Sato 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	+/-
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

↑ Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p381 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

Elections in Japan

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