Japan

Abstract

The Meiji Constitution of 1889 established a two-chamber parliament consisting of a House of Peers and a directly elected House of Representatives with equal powers. The Cabinet was responsible to the Emperor and not to Parliament. The franchise for the House of Representatives was initially very restricted. Only men aged over 25 who paid a direct national tax of at least 15 yen for more than one year, or an income tax for more than three years, were entitled to vote. The tax requirements limited the electorate to about one per cent of the population. In 1900 the tax requirement was reduced to 10 yen, increasing the electorate to two per cent of the population, and to three yen in 1919, making nearly six per cent of the population eligible to vote. Adult male suffrage was introduced in 1925, increasing the electorate from three to twelve million.