1949 Japanese general election

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. Voter turnout was 74.0%. It was the first election held following the enactment of the current Constitution of Japan.

1949 Japanese general election

23 January 1949
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 JCP 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
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
Prime Minister before election Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal Elected Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal

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. This was the best performance of the JCP until the 1972 election.

Results

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.

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		DLP	DP	JSP	JCP	NCP	LFP	Others	Ind.
Aichi	19	10	5	1	1	1		1
Akita	8	5	3
Aomori	7	3	3			1
Chiba	13	11	2
Ehime	9	8	1
Fukui	4	2	2
Fukuoka	19	9	2	3	1			3	1
Fukushima	12	9		3
Gifu	9	7	1	1
Gunma	10	4	3	2					1
Hiroshima	12	7		3		2
Hokkaido	22	11	2		1		1	7
Hyōgo	18	10	3	2	2	1
Ibaraki	12	7	2		1		2
Ishikawa	6	3	1	1	1
Iwate	8	6	1	1
Kagawa	6	1	3	2
Kagoshima	10	9	1
Kanagawa	13	5	1	3	3				1
Kōchi	5	2	2					1
Kumamoto	10	4	4	1				1
Kyoto	10	3	3	1	2			1
Mie	9	4	1	1					3
Miyagi	9	6	2	1
Miyazaki	6	5	1
Nagano	13	8	2		1	2
Nagasaki	9	7	1						1
Nara	5	2	1		1				1
Niigata	15	8	1	3	1		1	1
Ōita	7	5	1						1
Okayama	10	5	2		1		2
Osaka	19	10		5	4
Saga	5	3	2
Saitama	13	9		1	2				1
Shiga	5	2		1	1	1
Shimane	5	1	2	1	1
Shizuoka	14	9	1	1	1	1			1
Tochigi	10	7	1	1		1
Tokushima	5	3				2
Tokyo	27	13	1	4	7	1	1
Tottori	4	2		1	1
Toyama	6	3	2			1
Wakayama	6	3		1				2
Yamagata	8	5	2	1
Yamaguchi	9	6		2	1
Yamanashi	5	2	1		1				1
Total	466	264	69	48	35	14	7	17	12

Works cited

• 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.