Contents

1949 Japanese general election

1949 Japanese general election

← 1947 23 January 1949 1952 →
All 466 seats in the House of Representatives 234 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.04% (6.09pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Shigeru Yoshida Takeru Inukai Tetsu Katayama Party Democratic Liberal Democratic Socialist Last election – 25.44%, 124 seats 26.23%, 143 seats Seats won 264 70 48 Seat change New 54 95 Popular vote 13,420,269 4,798,352 4,129,794 Percentage 43.87% 15.68% 13.50% Swing New 9.76pp 12.73pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kyuichi Tokuda Takeo Miki Hisao Kuroda Party Communist National Cooperative Labourers and Farmers Last election 3.67%, 4 seats 7.00%, 31 seats – Seats won 35 14 7 Seat change 31 17 New Popular vote 2,984,780 1,041,879 606,840 Percentage 9.76% 3.41% 1.98% Swing 6.09pp 3.59pp New
Prime Minister before election Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal Prime Minister after election Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal

This article is part of a serieson
Politics of Japan
Constitution and Laws Constitution of Japan (1947–present) Meiji Constitution (1890–1947) Laws
The Monarchy The Emperor (List) Naruhito Crown Prince Fumihito Imperial House Chrysanthemum Throne Imperial Succession Imperial Household Agency
Executive Government Prime Minister (List) Fumio Kishida (LDP) Cabinet (List) Second Kishida Cabinet (Second Reshuffle) (LDP-Komeito coalition) Ministries Administrative Agencies
Legislature National Diet House of Representatives Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga Vice Speaker Banri Kaieda House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji Vice President Hiroyuki Nagahama
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Saburo Tokura Justices of the Supreme Court Intellectual Property High Court
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda Japanese yen Banknotes Coins
Elections List of districts of the House of Representatives of Japan List of districts of the House of Councillors of Japan Japanese House of Councillors national proportional representation block Political parties Japanese general elections 1890 1892 1894 (Mar) 1894 (Sep) 1898 (Mar) 1898 (Aug) 1902 1903 1904 1908 1912 1915 1917 1920 1924 1928 1930 1932 1936 1937 1942 1946 1947 1949 1952 1953 1955 1958 1960 1963 1967 1969 1972 1976 1979 1980 1983 1986 1990 1993 1996 2000 2003 2005 2009 2012 2014 2017 2021 Next Japanese House of Councillors elections 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022 Unified local elections 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Administrative divisions Prefectures Governors Subprefectures Districts Municipalities Submunicipalities
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Foreign policy (history) Diplomatic missions of / in Japan Japanese passport Visa requirements Visa policy Algeria Angola Djibouti Egypt Ethiopia Kenya Namibia Nigeria Somalia South Africa Argentina Barbados Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Ecuador Mexico Paraguay Peru Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China East Timor Georgia India Indonesia Iran Israel Laos Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal North Korea Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam Albania Austria Belgium Croatia Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Holy See Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Lithuania Malta Montenegro Netherlands Poland Portugal Russia Serbia Spain Sweden Ukraine United Kingdom Australia Fiji New Zealand Palau Tonga Africa Arab world Latin America Oceania Southeast Asia European Union United Nations G20 G7
Japan portal Other countries
v t e

General elections were held in Japan on 23 January 1949. The result was a landslide 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.

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.

The Japanese Communist Party's best prefecture performance was 20.07% in Osaka and its worst was 2.63% in Kagoshima.^[2] This was the best performance of the JCP^[3] until the 1972 election.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Democratic Liberal Party	13,420,269	43.87	264	New
	Democratic Party	4,798,352	15.68	69	–55
	Japan Socialist Party	4,129,794	13.50	48	–95
	Japanese Communist Party	2,984,780	9.76	35	+31
	National Cooperative Party	1,041,879	3.41	14	–17
	Labourers and Farmers Party	606,840	1.98	7	New
	Other parties	1,602,496	5.24	17	–
	Independents	2,008,109	6.56	12	0
Total		30,592,519	100.00	466	–2
Valid votes		30,592,519	98.13
Invalid/blank votes		582,438	1.87
Total votes		31,174,957	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		42,105,300	74.04
Source: Oscarsson, Nohlen et al.

• Cole, Allan; Totten, George; Uyehara, Cecil (1966). Socialist Parties In Postwar Japan. Yale University Press.
• Scalapino, Robert (1967). The Japanese Communist Movement, 1920-1966. University of California Press.