1949 Japanese general election

1949 Japanese general election

← 1947 23 January 1949 1952 →
All 466 seats in the House of Representatives 234 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.04% (6.09pp)
First party Second party   Leader Shigeru Yoshida Takeru Inukai Party Democratic Liberal Democratic Last election Did not exist 25.44%, 124 seats Seats won 264 70 Seat change New 54 Popular vote 13,420,269 4,798,352 Percentage 43.87% 15.68% Swing New 9.76pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tetsu Katayama Kyuichi Tokuda Party Socialist Communist Last election 26.23%, 143 seats 3.67%, 4 seats Seats won 48 35 Seat change 95 31 Popular vote 4,129,794 2,984,780 Percentage 13.50% 9.76% Swing 12.73pp 6.09pp
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
Prime Minister before election Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal Elected Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida Democratic Liberal

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General elections were held in Japan on 23 January 1949. The result was a landslide victory for the Democratic Liberal Party, which won 269 of the 466 seats.^[1] Voter turnout was 74.0%. It was the first election held following the enactment of the current Constitution of Japan.

Future prime ministers Hayato Ikeda and Eisaku Satō and future Foreign Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsuo Okazaki were first elected in this election.

The second cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was formed following the election.

The Japanese Communist Party's best prefecture performance was 20.07% in Osaka and its worst was 2.63% in Kagoshima.^[2] This was the best performance of the JCP^[3] until the 1972 election.