Rikken Seiyūkai

Common card · No. 233726

The Rikken Seiyūkai (立憲政友会; Association of Friends of Constitutional Government) was one of the main political parties in the pre-war Empire of Japan. It was also known simply as the Seiyūkai. The party was founded in 1900 by Itō Hirobumi as a pro-government alliance of bureaucrats and former members of the Kenseitō. It came to power in the same year when Itō became the Prime Minister. It was the most powerful political party in the House of Representatives from 1900 to 1921. After the assassination of party leader and Prime Minister Hara Takashi in 1921, a large part of the party defected to form the Seiyūhontō in the 1924 general election, leading the party to lose a significant amount of seats. It regained a very slight plurality of 217 seats in the 1928 general election, resulting in a hung parliament. The party was reduced to 174 seats in the 1930 general election, which led to the formation of a Constitutional Democratic Party-led government. It won the 1932 general election with...

Read on Wikipedia · Image 立憲政友会, Public domain