1947 Japanese House of Councillors election

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 20 April 1947.^[1] The Japan Socialist Party won more seats than any other party, although independents emerged as the largest group in the House. Most independents joined the Ryokufūkai parliamentary group in the first Diet session making it the largest group, and Ryokufūkai member Tsuneo Matsudaira was elected the first president of the House of Councillors.

1947 Japanese House of Councillors election

20 April 1947 1950 →
250 seats in the House of Councillors 126 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tetsu Katayama Ichirō Hatoyama Ishiguro Takeshige Party Socialist Liberal Democratic Seats won 47 38 28 Popular vote 3,479,814 1,360,456 1,508,087 Percentage 16.36% 6.40% 7.09%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Takeo Miki Kyuichi Tokuda Party National Cooperative JCP Seats won 9 4 Popular vote 549,916 610,948 Percentage 2.59% 2.87%

Results

Party		National			Constituency			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Japan Socialist Party	3,479,814	16.36	17	4,901,341	22.23	30	47
	Democratic Party	1,508,087	7.09	6	2,989,132	13.56	22	28
	Liberal Party	1,360,456	6.40	8	3,769,704	17.10	30	38
	Japanese Communist Party	610,948	2.87	3	825,304	3.74	1	4
	National Cooperative Party	549,916	2.59	3	978,522	4.44	6	9
	Other parties	1,063,253	5.00	6	1,058,032	4.80	7	13
	Independents	12,698,698	59.70	57	7,527,191	34.14	54	111
Total		21,271,172	100.00	100	22,049,226	100.00	150	250
Valid votes		21,271,172	85.24		22,049,226	89.83
Invalid/blank votes		3,684,218	14.76		2,497,308	10.17
Total votes		24,955,390	100.00		24,546,534	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		40,958,588	60.93		40,164,180	61.12
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

By constituency

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		JSP	LP	DP	NCP	JCP	Others	Ind.
Aichi	6		2					4
Akita	2		1					1
Aomori	2			1				1
Chiba	4		1	1				2
Ehime	2	1					1
Fukui	2	1						1
Fukuoka	6	3	1	1				1
Fukushima	4	1		1			1	1
Gifu	2	1						1
Gunma	4	1		3
Hiroshima	4	1						3
Hokkaido	8	2	1					5
Hyōgo	6	1		2			2	1
Ibaraki	4	1	1					2
Ishikawa	2		1	1
Iwate	2							2
Kagawa	2		1		1
Kagoshima	4							4
Kanagawa	4	1	2		1
Kōchi	2		1	1
Kumamoto	4	1	1	2
Kyoto	4	1	2					1
Mie	2						1	1
Miyagi	2	1		1
Miyazaki	2	1						1
Nagano	4	1	1	1	1
Nagasaki	2	1						1
Nara	2				1			1
Niigata	4	1	1					2
Ōita	2		1		1
Okayama	4	1	1			1		1
Osaka	6	2	2	2
Saga	2		1	1
Saitama	4	1	2	1
Shiga	2							2
Shimane	2							2
Shizuoka	4		2					2
Tochigi	4	1		2				1
Tokushima	2						1	1
Tokyo	8	2	3	1				2
Tottori	2						2
Toyama	2		1		1
Wakayama	2							2
Yamagata	2							2
Yamaguchi	2		1					1
Yamanashi	2	1						1
National	100	16	8	6	3	3	6	58
Total	250	45	39	28	9	4	14	111