1940 Taiwanese prefectural elections

The Second Prefectural Assembly Elections (Japanese: 第二囘州會議員選擧) were held on 20 November 1940 in Taiwan under Japanese rule. According to the Japanese law, half members of prefectural assembly shall be elected by the members of local assembly and the other half shall be appointed by the Governor-General (Japanese: 總督). In this time, 82 seats from five prefectural assemblies were open for election. Voting was done by Electoral colleges (EC) formed by the more than 3,600 members of local assemblies. Around half of them were directly elected in the previous year, the other half were appointed by the prefectural governor (Japanese: 州知事).[1]

1940 Taiwanese prefectural elections

← 1936 20 November 1940 (1940-11-20)

82 (of 164) seats in all prefectural assemblies
Turnout98.51% (Decrease0.46pp)
 
Alliance Japanese Taiwanese
Seats won 44 38
Seat change Increase8 Decrease2

The 1944 election was cancelled due to World War II, hence the tenure of the elected and appointed councilors was extended until the surrender of Japan in 1945.[2]

Electoral College size

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Administrative divisions in Taiwan during Japanese rule

Only around 0.067% of the population were eligible to vote in the election, which includes 861 (or 0.29% of) "Japan Mainlanders" (Japanese: 內地人) in Taiwan and 2,824 (or 0.055% of) "Taiwan Islanders" (Japanese: 本島人, mainly Chinese migrants).[3]

Electoral district Cities and counties Seats EC size
Taihoku 1st Taihoku City 8 40
2nd Kīrun City 3 28
3rd Giran City 2 24
4th Shichisei, Tansui, Kīrun, Bunsan, Kaizan, Shinshō 5 390
5th Giran, Ratō, Suō 2 123
Total 20 605
Shinchiku 1st Shinchiku City 3 26
2nd Chūreki, Daikei, Tōen 3 192
3rd Shinchiku, Chikutō, Chikunan, Byōritsu, Taiko 5 378
Total 11 596
Taichū 1st Taichū City 3 28
2nd Shōka City 3 27
3rd Daiton, Toyohara, Tōsei, Taikō 4 312
4th Shōka, Inrin, Hokuto 5 366
5th Nantō, Nītaka, Nōkō, Takeyama 3 156
Total 18 889
Tainan 1st Tainan City 4 31
2nd Kagi City 3 28
3rd Niitoyo, Shinka, Sobun, Hokumon 4 341
4th Shin'ei, Kagi, Tōseki 4 332
5th Toroku, Kobi, Hokukō 4 270
Total 19 1,002
Takao 1st Takao City 4 30
2nd Heitō City 3 26
3rd Okayama, Hōzan, Kizan 4 281
4th Heitō, Chōshū, Tōkō, Kōshun 3 256
Total 14 593
Total 82 3,685

Result

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All 82 seats were elected. The overall turnout was at 98.51%, of which Taiwanese was higher than Japanese. 6 invalid electoral votes were found and 55 did not cast their votes. Amongst the elected prefectural assembly, 44 were Japanese and 38 were Taiwanese. The Governor-General then appointed 76 members, most of them were Japanese.[3]

Election result
Total Prefectures
Taihoku Shinchiku Taichū Tainan Takao
Valid votes 3,624 594 594 870 980 586
Invalid votes 6 1 0 2 3 0
Total votes 3,630 595 594 872 983 586
Eligible voters 3,685 605 596 889 1002 593
Turnout 98.51% 98.35% 99.66% 98.09% 98.10% 98.82%
Elected Japanese 44 12 6 7 11 8
Elected Taiwanese 38 8 5 11 8 6
Appointed Japanese 62 15 8 16 14 9
Appointed Taiwanese 20 5 3 2 5 5

References

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  1. ^ Wang, Yeh-lih (1996). "The Political Consequence of the Electoral System: Single Nontransferable Voting in Taiwan" (PDF). Issues and Studies. 32: 85–104.
  2. ^ 王, 御風 (2016). 台灣選舉史 (PDF). 好讀出版.
  3. ^ a b "第二囘州會議員選舉統計". 臺灣地方行政. 6 (12). 臺灣地方自治協會: 105–120. 1940-12-15.