1946 Japanese general election

10 April 1946
All 468 seats in the House of Representatives 235 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	72.08%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ichirō Hatoyama Chūji Machida Tetsu Katayama Party Liberal Progressive Socialist Seats won 141 94 93 Popular vote 13,505,746 10,350,530 9,924,930 Percentage 24.36% 18.67% 17.90%   Fourth party Fifth party   130x130px 130x130px Leader Kyuichi Tokuda Sanehiko Yamamoto Party Communist Cooperative Seats won 5 14 Popular vote 2,135,757 1,799,764 Percentage 3.85% 3.25%
400px
Prime Minister before election Kijūrō Shidehara ERROR: Use "Independent (politician)" instead of "Independent" Prime Minister after election Shigeru Yoshida Liberal

General elections were held in Japan on 10 April 1946, the first after World War II. Voters had one, two or three votes, depending on how many MPs were elected from their constituency. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 141 of the 468 seats. Voter turnout was 72.1 percent.

Background

Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, who had been appointed by the Emperor in October 1945, dissolved the House of Representatives in December 1945. Shidehara had been working with Allied occupation commander Douglas MacArthur to implement a new constitution and other political reforms.

In the months following the war, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association caucus broke up and three major political parties emerged in the Diet, loosely based around the major parties that stood in the 1937 election prior to the war. The Liberal Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Seiyūkai members, while the Progressive Party was mainly composed of former Rikken Minseitō members and the Socialist Party was mainly composed of former Shakai Taishūtō members.

This was the first time Japanese women were allowed to vote. 39 women were elected to office, the largest number elected until the 2005 elections. On the other hand, Taiwanese and Koreans in Japan had their rights to vote and to run for office suspended.

Following the election, there was a brief attempt to keep the Shidehara cabinet alive by having Shidehara join the Progressive Party, which the other major parties opposed. The Liberals and Progressives agreed to form a government under Liberal leader Ichiro Hatoyama on 2 May, but Hatoyama was promptly purged on 4 May and a new government formed under Foreign Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who officially became Prime Minister on 22 May.

Results

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		Liberal	Progressive	Socialist	Communist	Cooperative	Others	Ind.	Vacant
Aichi	18	4	5	3			2	4
Akita	8	1	1	3			2	1
Aomori	7	2	3	1				1
Chiba	13	6	2	1			1	3
Ehime	9	2	4	2			1
Fukui	5	1	1					2	1
Fukuoka	18	2	5	8				3
Fukushima	13	4	7	2
Gifu	10	5	2	1				2
Gunma	10	1	5	3				1
Hiroshima	12	3	1	3			2	3
Hokkaido	23	6		4	1	7	3	2
Hyōgo	18	5	7	4		1		1
Ibaraki	13	4	5	1				3
Ishikawa	6	3		1				2
Iwate	8	4	2	2
Kagawa	6	3		2				1
Kagoshima	11	1	2	1		2	3	2
Kanagawa	12	6		4			1	1
Kōchi	5	2	1	2
Kumamoto	10	4	2	1				3
Kyoto	10	3	1	3				3
Mie	9	1	4	1			1	2
Miyagi	9	3	1	1			3	1
Miyazaki	6						4	2
Nagano	14	2	1	3	1	1	1	5
Nagasaki	8	5	1	1				1
Nara	5	1	1			1		2
Niigata	15	5	5	4				1
Ōita	7	2	2				2	1
Okayama	10	3	2	2				3
Okinawa	2								2
Osaka	18	3	4	5	1		3	2
Saga	5	2	2					1
Saitama	13	8	2	2			1
Shiga	6	3		2				1
Shimane	6	1	2	2				1
Shizuoka	14	7		3		1	1	2
Tochigi	10	2	4	2		1	1
Tokushima	5							5
Tokyo	22	7	1	9	2		2		1
Tottori	4	1	1					2
Toyama	6	1	2				2	1
Wakayama	6	3	1					2
Yamagata	9	3	1	1			1	3
Yamaguchi	9	4		1			1	3
Yamanashi	5	1	1	2				1
Total	468	140	94	92	5	14	38	81	4