1956 Japanese House of Councillors election

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. Takenaka Tsuneo, who was elected as a member of the Japan Dentists' Federation, later joined the LDP.

Party		National			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Not up	Won	Total after	+/–
	Liberal Democratic Party	11,356,874	39.69	19	14,353,960	48.35	42	61	61	122	New
	Japan Socialist Party	8,549,940	29.88	21	11,156,060	37.58	28	31	49	80	New
	Ryokufūkai	2,877,102	10.05	5	653,843	2.20	0	26	5	31	–3
	Japanese Communist Party	599,254	2.09	1	1,149,009	3.87	1	0	2	2	+1
	Labourers and Farmers Party	181,524	0.63	0	120,414	0.41	0	0	0	0	–2
	Other parties	607,832	2.12	1	115,862	0.39	0	0	1	1	0
	Independents	4,443,886	15.53	5	2,136,498	7.20	4	5	9	14	–22
Total		28,616,412	100.00	52	29,685,646	100.00	75	123	127	250	0
Valid votes		28,616,412	91.83		29,685,646	95.25
Invalid/blank votes		2,545,797	8.17		1,479,521	4.75
Total votes		31,162,209	100.00		31,165,167	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		50,177,888	62.10		50,177,888	62.11
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,[1][2] National Diet

By constituency

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