1959 Japanese House of Councillors election

House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 2 June 1959,^[1] electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats. Kōji Harashima, who later become a founding member and the first chairman of Kōmeitō, was elected to the Diet for the first time as one of several Soka Gakkai-affiliated independents.

1959 Japanese House of Councillors election

← 1956 2 June 1959 1962 →
127 of the 250 seats in the House of Councillors 126 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Nobusuke Kishi Mosaburō Suzuki Party LDP Socialist Seats after 132 85 Seat change 10 5 Popular vote 12,120,598 7,794,754 Percentage 41.2% 26.5% Swing 4.5% 3.4%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Sanzō Nosaka Party Ryokufūkai JCP Seats after 11 3 Seat change 20 1 Popular vote 2,382,703 551,196 Percentage 8.1% 1.9% Swing 2.0% 0.2%
President of the House of Councillors before election Yūzō Shigemune LDP President of the House of Councillors-designate Yutaka Terao LDP

During the campaign, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and MITI began to discuss the now-famous "income doubling" plan, although it was temporarily shelved due to disputes between party factions and the looming importance of the US–Japan Security Treaty revision issue. The plan would not be revived until the tenure of Hayato Ikeda, beginning in 1960.^[2]

Results

Party		National			Constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Not up	Won	Total after	+/–
	Liberal Democratic Party	12,120,598	41.20	22	15,667,022	52.00	49	61	71	132	+10
	Japan Socialist Party	7,794,754	26.49	17	10,265,394	34.07	21	47	38	85	+5
	Ryokufūkai	2,382,703	8.10	4	731,383	2.43	2	5	6	11	–20
	Political League for Small and Medium Enterprises	598,519	2.03	1				0	1	1	New
	Japanese Communist Party	551,916	1.88	1	999,255	3.32	0	2	1	3	+1
	Other parties	154,743	0.53	0	155,189	0.52	0	0	0	0	0
	Independents	5,817,187	19.77	7	2,311,112	7.67	3	8	10	18	+4
Total		29,420,420	100.00	52	30,129,355	100.00	75	123	127	250	0
Valid votes		29,420,420	93.59		30,129,355	95.83
Invalid/blank votes		2,016,244	6.41		1,310,398	4.17
Total votes		31,436,664	100.00		31,439,753	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		53,516,473	58.74		53,516,473	58.75
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,[1][3] National Diet

By constituency

Prefecture	Total seats	Seats won
		LDP	JSP	Ryokufūkai	JCP	PLSME	Ind.
Aichi	3	2	1
Akita	1	1
Aomori	1			1
Chiba	2	1	1
Ehime	1	1
Fukui	1	1
Fukuoka	3	2	1
Fukushima	2	1	1
Gifu	1	1
Gunma	2	1	1
Hiroshima	2	1	1
Hokkaido	4	2	2
Hyōgo	3	2	1
Ibaraki	2	1	1
Ishikawa	1						1
Iwate	1	1
Kagawa	1	1
Kagoshima	2	2
Kanagawa	2	1	1
Kōchi	1	1
Kumamoto	2	2
Kyoto	2	1	1
Mie	1	1
Miyagi	1	1
Miyazaki	1	1
Nagano	2	1	1
Nagasaki	1	1
Nara	1	1
Niigata	2	1	1
Ōita	1	1
Okayama	2	1	1
Osaka	3	1	2
Saga	1	1
Saitama	2	1	1
Shiga	1			1
Shimane	1	1
Shizuoka	2	2
Tochigi	2	1	1
Tokushima	1	1
Tokyo	4	2					2
Tottori	1		1
Toyama	1	1
Wakayama	1	1
Yamagata	1	1
Yamaguchi	1	1
Yamanashi	1		1
National	52	22	17	4	1	1	7
Total	127	71	38	6	7	7	10