Election interference (選挙干渉)
Election interference means interference to election made by ruling party to eliminate their opponents.
Followings are well known examples of election interference in Japanese history.
Election interference at the second Lower House general election in 1892 conducted by Yajiro SHINAGAWA, the prewar Home Minister of the first Matsukata cabinet
Election interference at the 12th Lower House general election in 1915 conducted by Kanetake OURA, the prewar Home Minister of the second OKUMA cabinet
Election interference at the 16th Lower Hose general election in 1928 conducted by Kisaburo SUZIKI, the prewar Home Minister of Giichi TANAKA cabinet
Of couse, regarding other elections, there were cases that a prewar Home Minister openly or secretly put pressure on opponents because a prewar Home Minister had authority over personnel issues of prefectural governors and top officials of police and could mobilize government official and police. Especially there were strong adverse effects at the time of party cabinets, at every regime change, for upcoming election, the party in power replaced prefectural governors and top officials of police who had been appointed by the previous ruling party (the opponent) and appointed bureaucracy who supported own party, and this kind of appointments of personnel was called 'adverse effect of a party' and criticized.