Under the new constitution, the prime minister was no longer selected by the Emperor, but elected by the Diet, "before the conduct of any other business" – and the Socialists pushed for an early vote to prevent the other two major parties from excluding them from a ruling coalition: on May 23, Socialist Tetsu Katayama was elected almost unopposed (420 votes of 426 present in the House of Representatives, 205 of 207 in the House of Councillors) while the coalition negotiations were still in progress.
Kyoichi Katayama | Yutaka Katayama | Yoshimi Katayama | Yoshihiro Katayama | Tetsu (railfan) | Tetsu Katayama | Sen Katayama | Katayama Shinji | Hitomi Katayama | Hiroshi Katayama |