1928 Japanese general election
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General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1928,[1][2] the first after the passing of the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law in 1925 which introduced universal male suffrage for men 25 years and over.[3] The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although the Constitutional Democratic Party had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.
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20 February 1928
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All 466 seats in the House of Representatives 234 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.[4] As a result, the electorate increased from 3.3 million in the 1924 elections to 12.4 million.
Results
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/â | |
| Constitutional Democratic Party | 4,251,771 | 43.14 | 216 | New | |
| Rikken Seiyūkai | 4,244,385 | 43.06 | 217 | +114 | |
| Labour-Farmer Party | 184,040 | 1.87 | 2 | New | |
| Jitsugyo Doshikai | 166,250 | 1.69 | 4 | New | |
| Social Democratic Party | 120,044 | 1.22 | 4 | New | |
| Japan Labour-Farmer Party | 94,626 | 0.96 | 1 | New | |
| KakushintÅ | 81,324 | 0.83 | 3 | New | |
| Japan Farmers Party | 44,000 | 0.45 | 0 | New | |
| Others | 669,756 | 6.80 | 19 | â50 | |
| Total | 9,856,196 | 100.00 | 466 | +2 | |
| Valid votes | 9,856,196 | 98.88 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 111,888 | 1.12 | |||
| Total votes | 9,968,084 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 12,408,678 | 80.33 | |||
| Source: Mackie & Rose, Voice Japan | |||||
By prefecture
| Prefecture | Total seats |
Seats won | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS | RM | JD | SDP | K | L-FP | JL-FP | Others | Ind. | ||
| Aichi | 17 | 5 | 10 | 2 | ||||||
| Akita | 7 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Aomori | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Chiba | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Ehime | 9 | 7 | 2 | |||||||
| Fukui | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Fukuoka | 18 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Fukushima | 11 | 6 | 5 | |||||||
| Gifu | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Gunma | 9 | 4 | 5 | |||||||
| Hiroshima | 13 | 7 | 6 | |||||||
| Hokkaido | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | ||||||
| HyÅgo | 19 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Ibaraki | 11 | 6 | 5 | |||||||
| Ishikawa | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Iwate | 7 | 6 | 1 | |||||||
| Kagawa | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Kagoshima | 12 | 2 | 9 | 1 | ||||||
| Kanagawa | 11 | 5 | 6 | |||||||
| KÅchi | 6 | 2 | 4 | |||||||
| Kumamoto | 10 | 5 | 5 | |||||||
| Kyoto | 11 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Mie | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||||
| Miyagi | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
| Miyazaki | 5 | 1 | 4 | |||||||
| Nagano | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | ||||||
| Nagasaki | 9 | 3 | 6 | |||||||
| Nara | 5 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Niigata | 15 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Åita | 7 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Okayama | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Okinawa | 5 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| Osaka | 21 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Saga | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Saitama | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | ||||||
| Shiga | 5 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| Shimane | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Shizuoka | 13 | 8 | 5 | |||||||
| Tochigi | 9 | 4 | 5 | |||||||
| Tokushima | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Tokyo | 31 | 14 | 16 | 1 | ||||||
| Tottori | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Toyama | 6 | 2 | 4 | |||||||
| Wakayama | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Yamagata | 8 | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| Yamaguchi | 9 | 7 | 2 | |||||||
| Yamanashi | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Total | 466 | 217 | 216 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
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.
