1947 Japanese general election

1947 Japanese general election

← 1946 25 April 1947 1949 →
All 468 seats in the House of Representatives 235 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	67.95% (4.13pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tetsu Katayama Shigeru Yoshida Hitoshi Ashida Party Socialist Liberal Democratic Last election 17.90%, 93 seats 24.36%, 141 seats – Seats won 143 131 124 Seat change 50 10 New Popular vote 7,176,882 7,312,524 6,960,270 Percentage 26.23% 26.73% 25.44% Swing 8.33pp 2.37pp New   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Takeo Miki Kyuichi Tokuda Party National Cooperative Communist Last election – 3.85%, 5 seats Seats won 31 4 Seat change New 1 Popular vote 1,915,948 1,002,883 Percentage 7.00% 3.67% Swing New 0.18pp
Prime Minister before election Shigeru Yoshida Liberal Prime Minister after election Tetsu Katayama Socialist

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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%.^[1] 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 Kijuro 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.