1946 Japanese General Election
First with women voting10 April 1946 · Occupation and the road to 1955 · 468 seats, 235 for a majority
General elections were held in Japan on 10 April 1946, the first after World War II, during the Allied occupation. All 468 seats in the House of Representatives were elected by limited voting.
Prime Minister before
Kijūrō Shidehara
Independent
Prime Minister after
Shigeru Yoshida
Liberal
Largest force
Liberal Party
141 of 468 seats
Turnout
72.1%
The result
| Share of the House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Party | Ichirō Hatoyama | 141 | — | 13,505,746 | 24.4% | — | |
| Japan Progressive Party | Chūji Machida | 94 | — | 10,350,530 | 18.7% | — | |
| Japan Socialist Party | Tetsu Katayama | 93 | — | 9,924,930 | 17.9% | — | |
| Independents | — | 81 | — | 11,244,120 | 20.3% | — | |
| Other parties | — | 38 | — | 6,488,032 | 11.7% | — | |
| Japan Cooperative Party | Yamamoto Sanehiko | 14 | — | 1,799,764 | 3.3% | — | |
| Japanese Communist Party | — | 5 | — | 2,135,757 | 3.9% | — |
2 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.