1928 Japanese general election

General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1928,[1] the first after the introduction of universal male suffrage. The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Rikken Minseitō led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although Rikken Minseitō had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.

1928 Japanese general election

20 February 1928

All 466 seats in the House of Representatives
234 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Tanaka Giichi Hamaguchi Osachi
Party Seiyūkai Minseitō
Last election 113 seats
Seats won 217 216
Seat change 114 New

House of Representatives conformation

Prime Minister before election

Tanaka Giichi
Seiyūkai

Prime Minister-designate

Tanaka Giichi
Seiyūkai

Electoral system

Following electoral reforms in 1925, the 466 members of the House of Representatives were elected from multi-member constituencies with between three and five seats. Voting had previously been restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 3 yen a year in direct taxation, but the reforms had also abolished the taxation requirement.[2] As a result, the electorate increased from 3.3 million in the 1924 elections to 12.4 million.

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Rikken Minseitō4,251,77143.1216New
Rikken Seiyūkai4,244,38543.1217+114
Labour-Farmer Party184,0401.92New
Jitsugo Doshikai166,2501.74New
Social Democratic Party120,0441.24New
Japan Labour-Farmer Party94,6260.91New
Kakushintō81,3240.83New
Japan Farmers Party44,0000.50New
Others669,7566.819–50
Invalid/blank votes111,888
Total9,968,084100466+2
Registered voters/turnout12,408,67880.3
Source: Mackie & Rose, Voice Japan

Aftermath

The Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by the Japanese army in June 1928. Tanaka denounced the army for this, but lost support and was forced to resign in July 1929. Opposition leader Hamaguchi became Prime Minister and formed a new government.

References

  1. Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p281
  2. Mackie & Rose, p276


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