General elections were held in Japan on 31 March 1937. Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest in Parliament, with 179 of the 466 seats. The election was a major victory for the Shakai Taishūtō, which became the third-largest party in the Diet. It was the first socialist party to do so in Japanese history. In contrast, the mildly pro-military Rikken Minseitō lost several seats and fascist groups such as Tōhōkai remained minor forces in the House. A month after the election, the Emperor replaced Hayashi with Fumimaro Konoe. Voter turnout was 73.3%.[2]
In February 1937, General Senjūrō Hayashi was appointed prime minister. Just days after taking office and having the Diet enact a budget bill, he ordered a dissolution of the House of Representatives, hoping to weaken the major political parties. The act was opposed by the major political parties as well as by the general public, and quickly became known as the "dine and dash dissolution" (食い逃げ解散, kui-nige kaisan).
In 1941, the Diet under the Konoe government passed a law extending the term of the Representatives from four years to five (衆議院議員任期延長ニ関スル法律). This allowed time to solidify the control of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association over Japanese politics. The Association effectively replaced all political parties in Japan and subsequently dominated the 1942 general election, although numerous factions developed within the Association's caucus in the House. The term extension was effectively repealed by the Constitution of Japan in 1947, which returned the representatives' term of office to 4 years.
1937, japanese, general, election, general, elections, were, held, japan, march, 1937, rikken, minseitō, emerged, largest, parliament, with, seats, election, major, victory, shakai, taishūtō, which, became, third, largest, party, diet, first, socialist, party,. General elections were held in Japan on 31 March 1937 Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest in Parliament with 179 of the 466 seats The election was a major victory for the Shakai Taishutō which became the third largest party in the Diet It was the first socialist party to do so in Japanese history In contrast the mildly pro military Rikken Minseitō lost several seats and fascist groups such as Tōhōkai remained minor forces in the House A month after the election the Emperor replaced Hayashi with Fumimaro Konoe Voter turnout was 73 3 2 1937 Japanese general election 1936 30 April 1937 1942 All 466 seats in the House of Representatives234 seats needed for a majorityTurnout71 64 7 00pp First party Second party Third party Leader Machida Chuji Various 1 Abe IsooParty Rikken Minseitō Rikken Seiyukai Shakai TaishutōLeader s seat Akita 1 Tōkyō 2Last election 205 174 18Seats won 179 175 37Seat change 26 1 19Popular vote 3 689 355 3 594 863 928 934Percentage 36 16 35 23 9 10 Swing 3 76pp 2 39pp 4 44pp Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party SWKLeader Vacant Adachi Kenzō Nakano SeigōParty Shōwakai Kokumin Dōmei TōhōkaiLeader s seat Kumamoto 1 Fukuoka 1Last election 20 15 Seats won 18 11 11Seat change 2 4 New partyPopular vote 928 934 281 834 221 455Percentage 4 06 2 76 2 17 Swing 0 72pp 1 03pp New partyPrime Minister before electionSenjurō HayashiImperial Japanese Army Prime Minister after election Senjurō HayashiImperial Japanese Army Contents 1 Background 2 Results 2 1 By prefecture 3 ReferencesBackground EditIn February 1937 General Senjurō Hayashi was appointed prime minister Just days after taking office and having the Diet enact a budget bill he ordered a dissolution of the House of Representatives hoping to weaken the major political parties The act was opposed by the major political parties as well as by the general public and quickly became known as the dine and dash dissolution 食い逃げ解散 kui nige kaisan In 1941 the Diet under the Konoe government passed a law extending the term of the Representatives from four years to five 衆議院議員任期延長ニ関スル法律 This allowed time to solidify the control of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association over Japanese politics The Association effectively replaced all political parties in Japan and subsequently dominated the 1942 general election although numerous factions developed within the Association s caucus in the House The term extension was effectively repealed by the Constitution of Japan in 1947 which returned the representatives term of office to 4 years Results Edit PartyVotes Seats Rikken Minseitō3 689 35536 16179 26Rikken Seiyukai3 594 86335 23175 1Shakai Taishutō928 9349 1037 19Shōwakai414 0884 0619 1Kokumin Dōmei281 8342 7611 4Tōhōkai221 4552 1711NewOthers1 073 15710 52340Total10 203 686100 004660Valid votes10 203 68698 89Invalid blank votes114 1161 11Total votes10 317 802100 00Registered voters turnout14 402 49771 64Source Mackie amp Rose 3 Voice JapanBy prefecture Edit Prefecture Totalseats Seats wonRikken Minseitō Rikken Seiyukai Shakai Taishutō Shōwakai Kokumin Dōmei Tōhōkai Others Ind Aichi 17 7 4 1 1 1 3Akita 7 4 2 1Aomori 6 3 2 1Chiba 11 6 5Ehime 9 5 4Fukui 5 2 2 1Fukuoka 18 5 6 3 1 1 2Fukushima 11 6 4 1Gifu 9 3 4 1 1Gunma 9 4 3 1 1Hiroshima 13 6 4 3Hokkaido 20 10 6 1 1 1 1Hyōgo 19 7 7 4 1Ibaraki 11 3 4 2 2Ishikawa 6 3 2 1Iwate 7 2 5Kagawa 6 1 3 1 1Kagoshima 12 2 5 1 2 2Kanagawa 11 4 5 2Kōchi 6 2 2 1 1Kumamoto 10 1 5 4Kyoto 11 7 3 1Mie 9 4 4 1Miyagi 8 3 3 1 1Miyazaki 5 1 1 1 1 1Nagano 13 6 3 1 2 1Nagasaki 9 3 4 1 1Nara 5 2 2 1Niigata 15 8 4 1 2Ōita 7 3 4Okayama 10 2 6 1 1Okinawa 5 2 2 1Osaka 21 8 5 6 1 1Saga 6 3 3Saitama 11 3 5 1 1 1Shiga 5 2 2 1Shimane 6 3 3Shizuoka 13 5 6 1 1Tochigi 9 4 4 1Tokushima 6 2 2 2Tokyo 31 11 8 8 1 3Tottori 4 2 1 1Toyama 6 4 2Wakayama 6 2 3 1Yamagata 8 2 4 1 1Yamaguchi 9 1 5 1 1 1Yamanashi 5 1 1 2 1Total 466 180 174 37 19 11 11 9 25References Edit Chikuhei Nakajima Ichirō Hatoyama Yonezō Maeda and Toshio Shimada served as acting presidents until April 30 1939 when Nakajima became president The 20th House of Representatives election Archived 2014 02 16 at the Wayback Machine in Japanese Thomas T Mackie amp Richard Rose 1991 The International Almanac of Electoral History Macmillan pp286 289 This article related to government in Japan is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1937 Japanese general election amp oldid 1097435646, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
