1956 Japanese House of Councillors election

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 8 July 1956,[1] electing half the seats in the House plus two vacant seats in the other half. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats, but failed to win a majority. It was the first national election under the 1955 System, approximately a two party system of Ichirō Hatoyama's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that was created in the "conservative merger" of 1955 and Suzuki Mosaburō's reunified Japan Socialist Party (JSP). The later dominant LDP failed to win a majority.

1956 Japanese House of Councillors election

← 1953 8 July 1956 1959 →

127 of the 250 seats in the House of Councillors
126 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Ichirō Hatoyama Mosaburō Suzuki
Party Liberal Democratic Socialist
Seats after 122 80
Seat change Increase12 Increase14
Popular vote 11,356,874 8,549,940
Percentage 36.7% 29.9%
Swing N/A N/A

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Sanzō Nosaka
Party Ryokufūkai Communist
Seats after 31 2
Seat change Decrease3 Increase2
Popular vote 2,877,102 599,254
Percentage 10.1% 2.1%
Swing Decrease2.1pp Increase1.0pp

President of the House of Councillors before election

Yūzō Shigemune
Liberal Democratic

President of the House of Councillors-designate

Yutaka Terao
Liberal Democratic

A key campaign issue was Prime Minister Ichirō Hatoyama's plan to revise Article 9 of the constitution – any change of the constitution requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the Diet. The left parties aimed to win at least a third of seats to prevent any constitutional change. Another issue was the government's plan to replace the elected prefectural boards of education with appointed ones, a plan fiercely opposed by the left: In June 1956, on the LDP's request the police intervened in the "deliberations" in the Diet when Socialist Councillors resorted to violence.

Results

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Two by-elections for the class of Councillors elected in 1953 were held simultaneously: The candidates with the 51st and 52nd highest vote shares in the national vote (one Socialist and one Liberal Democrat) were elected for three-year terms. Takenaka Tsuneo, who was elected as a member of the Japan Dentists' Federation, later joined the LDP.

 
PartyNationalConstituencySeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsNot upWonTotal
after
+/–
Liberal Democratic Party11,356,87439.691914,353,96048.35426161122New
Japan Socialist Party8,549,94029.882111,156,06037.5828314980New
Ryokufūkai2,877,10210.055653,8432.20026531–3
Japanese Communist Party599,2542.0911,149,0093.871022+1
Labourers and Farmers Party181,5240.630120,4140.410000–2
Other parties607,8322.121115,8620.3900110
Independents4,443,88615.5352,136,4987.2045914–22
Total28,616,412100.005229,685,646100.00751231272500
Valid votes28,616,41291.8329,685,64695.25
Invalid/blank votes2,545,7978.171,479,5214.75
Total votes31,162,209100.0031,165,167100.00
Registered voters/turnout50,177,88862.1050,177,88862.11
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,[1][2] National Diet

By constituency

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Prefecture Total
seats
Seats won
LDP JSP Ryokufūkai JCP Others Ind.
Aichi 3 2 1
Akita 1 1
Aomori 1 1
Chiba 2 1 1
Ehime 1 1
Fukui 1 1
Fukuoka 3 1 2
Fukushima 2 1 1
Gifu 1 1
Gunma 2 1 1
Hiroshima 2 1 1
Hokkaido 4 2 2
Hyōgo 3 2 1
Ibaraki 2 1 1
Ishikawa 1 1
Iwate 1 1
Kagawa 1 1
Kagoshima 2 1 1
Kanagawa 2 2
Kōchi 1 1
Kumamoto 2 1 1
Kyoto 2 1 1
Mie 1 1
Miyagi 1 1
Miyazaki 1 1
Nagano 2 1 1
Nagasaki 1 1
Nara 1 1
Niigata 2 1 1
Ōita 1 1
Okayama 2 1 1
Osaka 3 1 1 1
Saga 1 1
Saitama 2 2
Shiga 1 1
Shimane 1 1
Shizuoka 2 1 1
Tochigi 2 1 1
Tokushima 1 1
Tokyo 4 1 2 1
Tottori 1 1
Toyama 1 1
Wakayama 1 1
Yamagata 1 1
Yamaguchi 1 1
Yamanashi 1 1
National 52 19 21 5 1 1 5
Total 127 61 49 5 2 1 9

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Table 13: Persons Elected and Votes Polled by Political Parties - Ordinary Elections for the House of Councillors (1947–2004) Archived 2011-03-23 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
  2. ^ "27-11 Allotted Number, Candidates, Eligible Voters as of Election Day, Voters and Voting Percentages of Ordinary Elections for the House of Councillors (1947-2004)". Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20.