1932 Japanese general election

1932 Japanese general election

20 February 1932
All 466 seats in the House of Representatives 234 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tsuyoshi Inukai Reijiro Wakatsuki Abe Isoo Party Rikken Seiyūkai Rikken Minseitō Shakai Minshūtō Last election 37.69%, 174 seats 52.48%, 273 seats 1.67%, 2 seats Seats won 301 146 seats 3 Seat change 127 127 1 Popular vote 5,683,137 3,442,326 125,758 Percentage 58.20% 35.25% 1.29% Swing 20.51pp 17.23pp 0.38pp   Fourth party Fifth party   KST Leader Asō Hisashi Party Rōnō Taishūtō Kakushintō Last election – 0.53%, 3 seats Seats won 2 2 Seat change New party 1 Popular vote 127,459 36,839 Percentage 1.31% 0.38% Swing New party 0.15pp
Districts shaded according to winners' vote strength
Prime Minister before election Tsuyoshi Inukai Rikken Seiyūkai Prime Minister after election Tsuyoshi Inukai Rikken Seiyūkai

General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1932. They were the last elections before the May 15 Incident, which marked the temporary end of party politics in Japan. Rikken Seiyūkai won 301 of the 466 seats in the House of Representatives.

Background

In 1931, the ruling Rikken Minseitō opposed the Mukden Incident, which was engineered by the military. The anti-war Foreign Minister Kijuro Shidehara and Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō were 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 Rikken Seiyūkai and elected Inukai Tsuyoshi as prime minister.

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

Results

Despite assassinations of anti-war politicians, Rikken Minseitō was unpopular because of its mishandling of the economic crisis. The ruling right-wing Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi won a landslide victory.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Rikken Seiyūkai	5,683,137	58.20	301	+127
	Rikken Minseitō	3,442,326	35.25	146	–127
	Social Democratic Party	125,758	1.29	3	+1
	Rōnō Taishūtō	127,459	1.31	2	New
	Kakushintō	36,839	0.38	2	–1
	Other parties	1,445	0.01	0	–
	Independents	347,668	3.56	12	+7
Total		9,764,632	100.00	466	0
Valid votes		9,764,632	99.50
Invalid/blank votes		49,036	0.50
Total votes		9,813,668	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,103,679	74.89
Source: Voice Japan

By prefecture

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		Rikken Seiyūkai	Rikken Minseitō	SDP	Rōnō Taishūtō	Kakushintō	Ind.
Aichi	17	11	5				1
Akita	7	4	3
Aomori	6	4	2
Chiba	11	8	3
Ehime	9	7	2
Fukui	5	3	2
Fukuoka	18	12	3	2			1
Fukushima	11	7	3				1
Gifu	9	6	3
Gunma	9	6	3
Hiroshima	13	7	6
Hokkaido	20	13	6				1
Hyōgo	19	11	7			1
Ibaraki	11	8	2				1
Ishikawa	6	4	2
Iwate	7	6	1
Kagawa	6	4	2
Kagoshima	12	12
Kanagawa	11	6	5
Kōchi	6	4	1				1
Kumamoto	10	6	3				1
Kyoto	11	7	3				1
Mie	9	5	3				1
Miyagi	8	6	2
Miyazaki	5	5
Nagano	13	7	6
Nagasaki	9	5	4
Nara	5	2	2				1
Niigata	15	10	4			1
Ōita	7	5	2
Okayama	10	9	1
Okinawa	5	4	1
Osaka	21	10	10		1
Saga	6	4	2
Saitama	11	8	3
Shiga	5	3	2
Shimane	6	2	4
Shizuoka	13	8	5
Tochigi	9	6	3
Tokushima	6	4	2
Tokyo	31	15	13	1	1		1
Tottori	4	2	1				1
Toyama	6	4	2
Wakayama	6	5	1
Yamagata	8	5	3
Yamaguchi	9	7	2
Yamanashi	5	4	1
Total	466	301	146	3	2	2	12