1956 Japanese House of Councillors election

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on July 8, 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

July 8, 1956
125 (of the 250) seats in the House of Councillors 126 seats needed for a majority
Leader Nobusuke Kishi Mosaburō Suzuki Party Liberal Democratic Socialist Seats after 122 80 Seat change 12 14 Popular vote 11,356,874 8,549,940 Percentage 36.7% 29.9% Swing N/A N/A   Leader – Sanzō Nosaka Party Ryokufūkai Communist Seats after 31 2 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 2,877,102 599,254 Percentage 10.1% 2.1% Swing 2.1% 1.0%
President of the House of Councillors before election Yūzō Shigemune Liberal Democratic President of the House of Councillors-designate Yutaka Terao Liberal Democratic

Post-election composition of the House of Councillors

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

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.

Party	Constituency			National			Total seats	Not up	Post-election composition
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Liberal Democratic Party	14,353,960	48.4	42	11,356,874	39.7	19	61	61	122
Japan Socialist Party	11,156,060	37.6	28	8,549,940	29.9	21	49	31	80
Japanese Communist Party	1,149,009	3.9	1	599,254	2.1	1	2	0	2
Ryokufūkai	653,843	2.2	0	2,877,102	10.1	5	5	26	31
Labourers and Farmers Party	120,414	0.4	0	181,524	0.6	0	0	0	0
Other parties	115,862	0.4	0	607,832	2.1	1	1[2]	0	1
Independents	2,136,498	7.2	4	4,443,886	15.5	5	9	5	14
Invalid/blank votes		-	-		-	-	-	-	-
Total	29,685,646	100	75	28,616,411	100	52	127	123	250
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

See also

• Hatomander

References

• Time, July 23, 1956: Japan: Swing to the Left
• The Senkyo election archive: Full results of the 1956 Councillors elections by electoral district

1. 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. only elected candidate: Takenaka Tsuneo for the Japan Dentists' Federation (Nihon shika ishi renmei), later joined LDP