Japanese general election, 1932

Japanese general election, 1932

20 February, 1932
All 466 seats to the House of Representatives of Japan 234 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Tsuyoshi Inukai Reijiro Wakatsuki Party Seiyukai Constitutional Democratic Leader's seat Okayama-2nd Peers Last election 174 seats 273 seats Seats won 301 146 Seat change +127 -127 Popular vote 5,683,137 3,442,326 Percentage 58.20% 35.25%
Prime Minister before election Tsuyoshi Inukai Seiyukai Prime Minister-designate Tsuyoshi Inukai Seiyukai

The 18th General Election of Japan of the House of Representatives took place in Japan on February 20, 1932. It was the last election before the May 15 Incident, which marked the temporary end of party-politics in Japan.

Overview

In 1931, the ruling Minsei Party opposed the Mukden Incident which was engineered by the military. The anti-war Foreign Minister Kijuro Shidehara and Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō was criticized for their intervention in military and was accused of "serious corruption". After the resignation of the Reijirō Cabinet, some right-wing members of the ruling party formed a coalition with the opposition Seiyukai Party and elected Inukai Tsuyoshi as prime minister.

Before the election, some businessmen and candidates were assassinated by the right-wing.

This election was the first general election televised live in Japan.

Results

Despite assassinations against anti-war politicians, the Minsei Party was unpopular because of its mishandling of the economic crisis. The ruling right-wing Seiyukai Party, which was led by Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi won a landslide victory. The turnout of the election was 81.68%.

 Summary of the 20 February 1932 Japanese House of Representatives election results

Parties	Votes	%	+/-	Total seats	+/-
Rikken Seiyukai	5,683,137	58.20	+20.51	301	+127
Constitutional Democratic Party	3,442,326	35.25	-17.23	146	-127
Social Democratic Party	125,758	1.29	-0.38	3	+1
National Labour-Farmer Masses Party	127,459	1.31		2
Reform Party	36,839	0.38	-0.15	2	-1
Other Parties	1,445	0.01		0
Non-partisan	347,668	3.56	+0.45	12	+7
Valid votes	9,764,632	100.0%		466
Invalid votes	49,036
Total (turnout 81.67%)	9,813,668
Source: Voice Japan