Japanese general election, 1946
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All 466 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 234 seats needed for a majority |
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General elections were held in Japan on 10 April 1946, the first after World War II. Voters had one, two or three votes, depending on how many MPs were elected from their constituency. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 148 of the 464 seats. Voter turnout was 72.1 percent.
Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, who had been appointed by the Emperor in October 1945, dissolved the House of Representatives in December 1945. Shidehara had been working with Allied occupation commander Douglas MacArthur to implement a new constitution and other political reforms.
In the months following the war, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association caucus broke up and three major political parties emerged in the Diet, loosely based around the major parties that stood in the 1937 election prior to the war. The Liberal Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Seiyūkai members, while the Progressive Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Minseitō members and the Socialist Party was mainly composed of former Shakai Taishūtō members.
This was the first time Japanese women were allowed to vote. 39 women were elected to office, the largest number elected until the Japanese general election, 2005. On the other hand, Taiwanese and Koreans in Japan had their rights to vote and to run for office suspended.
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