electionstracker

Japan 1955 general election

What was the result of the 1955 general election in Japan?

Japan Democratic Party won 185 of 467 seats with 36.6% of the vote. 75.8% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Japan
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Japan Democratic Party won 185 of 467 seats with 36.6% of the vote; 75.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 1.6 points on 1953.

  • Japan Democratic Party 185 36.6%
  • Liberal Party 112 −87 seats 26.6% −12.3 points
  • Left Socialist Party of Japan 89 +17 seats 15.4% +2.3 points
  • Right Socialist Party of Japan 67 +1 seat 13.9% +0.4 points
  • Japanese Communist Party 2 +1 seat 2.0% +0.1 points
  • Labourers and Farmers Party 4 −1 seat 1.0% 0.0 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Japan 1953 general election, party by party.

234 of 467 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 36.6%

    Share of the vote won by Japan Democratic Party

    Japan Democratic Party won 185 of 467 seats. A majority needs 234.

  2. +17 seats

    Seats gained by Left Socialist Party of Japan

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1953. Liberal Party lost 87 seats.

  3. 75.8%

    Voter turnout

    Up 1.6 points on 1953.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Japan Democratic Party18536.613,536,044
Liberal Party112−8726.6−12.39,849,458
Left Socialist Party of Japan89+1715.4+2.35,683,312
Right Socialist Party of Japan67+113.9+0.45,129,594
Japanese Communist Party2+12.0+0.1733,122
Labourers and Farmers Party4−11.00.0357,611
Other parties (seats only)8−4

± is the change against the Japan 1953 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Japan Democratic Party 13,536,044
  • Liberal Party 9,849,458
  • Left Socialist Party of Japan 5,683,312
  • Right Socialist Party of Japan 5,129,594
  • Japanese Communist Party 733,122
  • Labourers and Farmers Party 357,611
  • Other parties (seats only)

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

75.8% of the 49,235,375 registered voters cast a ballot (37,334,338 ballots), up 1.6 points on 1953. 37,014,837 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Japan Democratic Party36.6% of votes39.6% of seats
  • Liberal Party26.6% of votes24.0% of seats
  • Left Socialist Party of Japan15.4% of votes19.1% of seats
  • Right Socialist Party of Japan13.9% of votes14.3% of seats
  • Labourers and Farmers Party1.0% of votes0.9% of seats
  • Japanese Communist Party2.0% of votes0.4% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 4.2 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 4.0 by votes and 3.7 by seats; Japan Democratic Party led Liberal Party by 10.0 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of