Japanese general election, 1955

Japanese general election, 1955

27 February 1955

First party Second party Third party   Leader Ichiro Hatoyama Shigeru Yoshida Suzuki Mosaburō Party Democratic Liberal Leftist Socialist Seats won 185 114 89 Popular vote 13,536,044 9,925,477 5,683,312 Percentage 36.6% 26.8% 15.3%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jōtarō Kawakami Party Rightist Socialist Communist Seats won 67 2 Popular vote 5,129,594 733,121

Prime Minister before election Ichiro Hatoyama Democratic Elected Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama Democratic

General elections were held in Japan on 27 February 1955. The result was a victory for the Japan Democratic Party, which won 185 of the 467 seats. Voter turnout was 75.8%. In 15 November 1955, the Japan Democratic Party and the Liberal Party combined as the modern Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan for more than a half century. The Rightist Socialist Party of Japan and the Leftist Socialist Party of Japan also merged to form the Social Democratic Party of Japan, which was Japan's largest opposition party in the 1955 system.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Japan Democratic Party	13,536,044	36.6	185	New
Liberal Party	9,925,477	26.8	114	-88
Japanese Socialist Party	5,683,312	15.4	89	+17
Social Democratic Party of Japan	5,129,594	13.9	67	+1
Japanese Communist Party	733,121	2.0	2	+1
Other parties	813,784	2.2	5	-1
Independents	1,193,507	3.2	5	-2
Invalid/blank votes	319,499	-	-	-
Total	37,334,338	100	467	+1
Source: Nohlen et al.

Vote share
JDP			36.57%
LP			26.81%
JSP			15.35%
SDPJ			13.86%
JCP			1.98%
Independents			3.22%
Others			2.20%

Parliament seats
JDP			39.61%
LP			24.41%
JSP			19.06%
SDPJ			14.35%
JCP			0.43%
Independents			1.07%
Others			1.07%