The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 3, 1937. JAPANESE ELECTIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 22638, 3 May 1937, Page 8

The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 3, 1937. JAPANESE ELECTIONS.

Thk Japanese elections have resulted in a victory, which may not, however, have much immediate effect, for tho nonmilitary parties. In February last Mr Hirota’s Ministry was disrupted - by the military bureaucracy, and General Hayashi became leader of an Administration which was expected to implement the army’s policies. In spite of tho Government’s professions of moderation and repeated assurances by the Prime Minister that it had no mind for aggressive courses in any quarter, the Diet took issue with the new regime when increased appropriations were demanded for defence purposes. The crisis assumed new sharpness when the Minseito and Seiyukai parties held up Bills in order to force electoral reform, for which there has been a strong cry in Japan. An Imperial ordinance for the dissolution of the Diet was obtained by General Hayashi, and elections followed. The Cabinet complained that the Parliament it got rid of lacked sincerity. It “ failed to appreciate the critical nature of tho situation [calling for more expenditure on tho army] and the dissolution was necessary to awaken the nation’s conscience.” Tho army’s hope was that, in the new elections which followed, a new National Party favourable to its views would arise and sweep the country. That has not been the result. Towards the close of the campaign it was reported from Tokio that the defeat of the Government was regarded as a certainty. Unless first reports of the polls. should prove very' misleading, the Government has been defeated, but no one is very excited on that account. The general feeling, we are told, was that the appeal to the country.was artificial, and apathy was the keynote of the elections. What isexpected is an “ as you were ” position, the parties which opposed the Government before returning with 80 per cent, of the seats. That does not ensure, however, that tho military class will not continue to govern, disregarding the Diet if co-operation in its policies is unobtainable. The position is not necessarily the same as it would be in Great Britain, where the party that is victorious in elections of necessity rules. Democratio government in Japan was not won by the people. It was a gift to the people, made by the allpowerful Emperor only fifty years ago, and it can work in a way of its own. Such ■ phrases as “ His Majesty’s forces,” “His Majesty’s Ministers,” “His majesty’s Commons,” have a full meaning in Japan which they have ceased to have in countries where constitutional government is an older growth. The British Sovereign chooses his Ministers from the predominant party. The Japanese Emperor is not thus limited in his choice. It is strictly in accordance with the Japanese Constitution for the Emperor to disregard tho elected representatives entirely in appointing his Ministry, and in the last resort the elected representatives can only show their power by refusing to vote supplies, thus forcing a dissolution. Japan, like Great Britain, it has been pointed out, can only attain a Cabinet and Prime Minister representative of the majority party, or parties, by the gradual growth of a convention, to that effect. That convention has already begun, but it has not yet proved strong enough to stand firm in a time of crisis. During the last thirty years there has been an increasing tendency to appoint the leader of the majority party to the Premiership, but at intervals there havo been Premiers who have been outside Parliament themselves, and have had no parliamentary majority behind them. That state of things has not been regarded as an outrage by the electorate, though opinion has been developing against it. Expectation of a resumption of such rule, responsible to the Emperor, but not directly to tho people, may be supposed to underlie the impression of these elections as “ artificial.” Nevertheless, the polls havo been, in one respect, surprising. It has been accepted almost as an axiom in Japan that the party in power can always be sure of rc-election. That is because tho proportion of the people who have the right to vote is small, and has not so much feeling of its responsibilities but that all sorts of arts can influence it in tho direction in which its rulers for tho time being want it to go. On this occasion, however, tho Government lias been defeated, whether the practical result of that is to bo great or small. Probably, if a military Government continues in office, it will not go too far in thwarting what has been expresesd as the people’s will. The result of the elections would not make easier the establishment of a totalitarian Government.