1936 Qing General Election

General elections were held in the Qing Empire on 7 June 1936 to confirm the appointment of General Chiang Kai Shek to the post of Prime Minister of China. Voters were given two ballots, and they simply had to confirm or reject the candidate. The Kuomintang strongly supported the appointment, while the Republicans rejected it.

Background
Prime Minister Song Jiaoren was elected in 1914 and re-elected in 1919, with different margins of victory. He governed with a relatively small majority, however, the KMT-aligned parliament managed to pass several laws and reforms further stabilizing the economy and the empire overall. Jiaoren contested the 1926 and 1930 elections, where the opposition made little advancements, as more Chinese were eligible to vote and express their preference. However, in 1934, Emperor Guangxu abdicated in favor of his son, Prince Aisin Gioro Puyi, who received political and military preparation since September 1928 in case his father decided to leave the throne.

In early 1936, the Empire of Japan began several large-scale exercises in the partially-occupied zone of Manchuria, and began military operations against China in March 1936. Emperor Puyi appointed Marshal Chiang Kai Shek to the post of Prime Minister to organize the defences for a possible all-out Japanese attack, which materialized in 1937 with the Second Sino Japanese War.