Shikoku proportional representation block

Summary

The Shikoku proportional representation block (Hirei [daihyō] Shikoku burokku (比例[代表]四国ブロック)) is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It consists of Shikoku region covering Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi Prefectures. Following the introduction of proportional voting it elected seven representatives in the 1996 general election. When the total number of PR seats was reduced from 200 to 180, the Shikoku PR block shrank to six seats.

Shikoku Proportional Representation Block
Parliamentary constituency
for the Japanese House of Representatives
Map of House of Representatives proportional blocks, with the Shikoku block highlighted
PrefecturesEhime, Kagawa, Kōchi, Tokushima
Population3,721,000 (October 2019 estimate)[1]
Electorate3,205,495[2]
Current constituency
Representatives6 (LDP-3, CDP-1, Ishin-1, Komeito-1)[3]

Summary of results edit

With a district magnitude of six, Shikoku is the smallest PR block. The vote share necessary to obtain a seat is usually well above ten percent. In three elections after the consolidation of the LDP-DPJ-party system by the merger of the LP into the DPJ in 2001, only the top three parties were able to win seats in Shikoku. In 2012, the LDP recorded its worst result since the introduction of proportional party list voting and the DPJ vote share crashed by more than 25 percentage points, the newly created Japan Restoration Party managed to gain two proportional seats in Shikoku.

General election LDP DPJ Kōmeitō JCP SDP NFP ('96)/LP ('00) JRP ('12)/JIP ('14) Others
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
1996 785,589 41.6 3 245,323 13.8 1 227,014 12.1 1 132,868 7.1 0 455,269 24.2 2 39,067 2.1 0
2000 700,719 36.0 3 402,457 20.7 1 266,791 13.7 1 213,729 11.0 1 196,277 10.1 0 162,700 8.4 0 5,316 0.3 0
2003 708,051 38.2 3 587,828 31.7 2 309,160 16.7 1 148,953 8.0 0 98,243 5.3 0
2005 821,746 38.3 3 711,927 33.2 2 317,575 14.8 1 175,994 8.2 0 119,089 5.5 0
2009 719,594 32.0 2 973,038 43.2 3 293,204 13.0 1 150,171 6.7 0 94,558 4.2 0 19,507 0.9 0
2012 567,193 30.7 2 296,914 16.0 1 276,907 15.0 1 106,976 5.8 0 42,762 2.3 0 394,393 21.3 2 165,091 8.8 0
2014 547,185 34.9 3 326,803 20.8 1 247,776 15.8 1 158,848 10.1 0 33,257 2.1 0 200,882 12.8 1 55,277 3.1 0

Party names are abbreviated as follows (Romanisation of Japanese name in brackets):

List of representatives edit

Note: Party affiliations as of election day.

Years Elected representatives
1996 Naoaki Haruna Masanori Gotō Kazuyoshi Endō Shōzō Nishimura Ihei Ochi
died 2000, replaced by
Akira Shichijō
Mamoru Nishida Hajime Morita
2000 Naoaki Haruna Masanori Gotō Kazuyoshi Endō Mamoru Nishida Hajime Morita Akira Shichijō
2003 Miho Takai Masanori Gotō Noritoshi Ishida Hajime Morita Yoshirō Okamoto Akira Shichijō
2005 Junya Ogawa Masanori Gotō
resigned 2005, replaced by
Miho Takai
Noritoshi Ishida Akira Shichijō Yoshirō Okamoto Katsuko Nishimoto
2009 Hirobumi Niki Takako Nagae Hideyuki Takahashi Noritoshi Ishida Takuya Hirai Shun'ichi Yamaguchi
2012 Junya Ogawa Fumiki Sakurauchi Arata Nishioka Noritoshi Ishida Takakazu Seto Yasuji Izuhara
2014 Junya Ogawa Hiroyuki Yokoyama Noritoshi Ishida Teru Fukui Takakazu Seto Mamoru Fukuyama

Election results edit

2014 general election edit

Following on from the LDP landslide win at the 2012 general election, in which the party won 12 of the 13 electorates in Shikoku plus two of the six seats from the PR list,[4] the LDP maintained their dominant position in the region by retaining all 10 of their electorates[5] (two electorates were abolished to address voter malapportionment) and gaining a seat on the PR list from the dissolved Japan Restoration Party (JRP).

The JRP, which won 2 seats with 21.3% of the vote at the 2012 general election,[4] had split in May 2014, with former members subsequently forming the Japan Innovation Party and Party for Future Generations. Of the two JRP members previously elected from the Shikoku PR list, Fumiki Sakurauchi [ja] joined the Party for Future Generations and contested the PR block in 2014, while Arata Nishioka [ja] contested the Ehime 2nd district [ja] as an independent; both candidates lost.

Former Ehime Prefectural Assembly [ja] member Hiroyuki Yokoyama [ja][6] the Japan Innovation Party's unsuccessful candidate in Ehime 2nd district, gained a seat for the new party, while the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Komeito representatives were able to retain their seats.[5]

Elected candidates
Party Representative Party
rank
Term #
LDP Teru Fukui 1 6th
DPJ Junya Ogawa 1 4th
LDP Mamoru Fukuyama [ja] 2 2nd
Komeito Noritoshi Ishida 1 7th
Innovation Hiroyuki Yokoyama [ja] 1 1st
LDP Takakazu Seto [ja] 3 2nd
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Liberal Democratic Party547,18534.85+4.193+1
Democratic Party of Japan326,80320.82+4.7710
Komeito247,77615.78+0.8110
Japan Innovation Party200,88212.79New1New
Japanese Communist Party158,84810.12+4.3400
Party for Future Generations44,5152.84New0New
Social Democratic Party33,2572.12–0.1900
Happiness Realization Party10,7620.69+0.2500
Total1,570,028100.0060
Valid votes1,570,02896.92
Invalid/blank votes49,8343.08
Total votes1,619,862100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,259,28449.70
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications[7][8]

2012 general election edit

Prior to the election, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) held three of the six PR block seats as well as 5 of the 13 small electorates that make up the block. The opposition LDP held 2 of the PR seats and the 8 remaining electorates, while their traditional junior coalition partner Komeito held the final PR seat.

The 2012 general election delivered a landslide victory to the LDP, with 294 of the 480 seats won at the national level. The election decimated the DPJ from a pre-election position of 230 to just 57 seats.[9] In the Shikoku PR block, the DPJ lost 2 of their seats as their vote was reduced to 16.0%, down from 43.2% in the 2009 election. Junya Ogawa lost his seat in Kagawa 1st district but was the DPJ candidate to suffer the narrowest defeat, so he was able to retain a seta in the house. The newly-formed Japan Restoration Party gained the two seats lost by the DPJ.[10] In the 13 single-member electorates, the LDP gained 4 seats, with Yuichiro Tamaki being the only DPJ member to retain his seat in the Kagawa 2nd district.[11]

Elected candidates
Party Representative Party
rank
Term #
LDP Takakazu Seto 1 1st
Restoration Fumiki Sakurauchi 1 1st
DPJ Junya Ogawa 1 3rd
LDP Yasuji Izuhara 14 2nd
Komeito Noritoshi Ishida 1 6th
Restoration Arata Nishioka 1 1st
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Democratic Party567,19330.6620
Japan Restoration Party394,39321.322New
Democratic Party of Japan296,91416.051–2
Komeito276,90714.9710
Japanese Communist Party106,9765.7800
Your Party93,0905.030New
Tomorrow Party of Japan63,8303.450New
Social Democratic Party42,7622.3100
Happiness Realization Party8,1710.4400
Total1,850,236100.0060
Valid votes1,850,23696.94
Invalid/blank votes58,3653.06
Total votes1,908,601100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,291,31357.99
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications[12][13]

2009 general election edit

Shikoku block results in the 2009 general election[14][15]
LDP: 719,594 votes (32.0%), 2 seats DPJ: 973,038 votes (43.2%), 3 seats Kōmeitō: 293,204 votes (13.0%), 1 seat
# Candidate District "Loss ratio"
(sekihairitsu)
Elected # Candidate District "Loss ratio" Elected # Candidate District "Loss ratio" Elected
1 Takuya Hirai Kagawa 1 83.3% Elected 1 Hirobumi Niki Tokushima 3 98.5% Elected 1 Noritoshi Ishida PR only Elected
Shun'ichi Yamaguchi Tokushima 2 80.2% Elected Takako Nagae Ehime 1 97.8% Elected 2 Hidehisa Ochiai
Masazumi Gotōda Tokushima 3 Won district Hideyuki Takahashi Ehime 4 89.7% Elected JCP: 150,171 votes (6.7%), no seat
Yasuhisa Shiozaki Ehime 1 Won district Yoshito Sengoku Tokushima 1 Won district # Candidate District "Loss ratio" Elected
Seiichirō Murakami Ehime 2 Won district Miho Takai Tokushima 2 Won district 1 Masaru Sasaoka PR only
Kōichi Yamamoto Ehime 4 Won district Jun'ya Ogawa Kagawa 1 Won district 2 Motonori Furuta Tokushima 1 10.8%
Teru Fukui Kōchi 1 Won district Yūichirō Tamaki Kagawa 2 Won district Michiko Chikaishi Kagawa 3 9.9%
Gen Nakatani Kōchi 2 Won district Yōichi Shiraishi Ehime 3 Won district Katsuhiko Tanaka Ehime 1 6.1%
Yūji Yamamoto Kōchi 3 Won district Tomoi Nakayama Kōchi 3 86.9% SDP: 94,558 votes (4.2%), no seat
Tōru Shirai Ehime 3 77.2% Kumiko Tamura Kōchi 1 86.4% # Candidate District "Loss ratio" Elected
Yoshio Kimura Kagawa 2 72.3% Kiyo Kusumoto Kōchi 2 65.9% 1 Tomoko Okahira Ehime 2 89.9%
Yoshirō Okamoto Tokushima 1 51.8% 12 Kenshi Uno PR only Haruhiko Maida Kagawa 3 73.3%
13 Akira Shichijō PR only 13 Masuko Yoshida HRP: 19,507 votes (0.9%), no seat
14 Katsuko Nishimoto # Candidate District "Loss ratio" Elected
15 Masaharu Sasanuma 1 Akemi Takeo PR only
16 Toshiyuki Minakuchi 2 Keiko Kushihata
3 Yukinori Tōjō
4 Shūhei Oka

References edit

  1. ^ "Population by Sex for Prefectures - Total population, Japanese population, October 1, Each Year". e-stat.go.jp. Government of Japan. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Number of registered electoral rolls and overseas electoral rolls for each constituency, etc". soumu.go.jp. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Results of the 2021 Japanese General Election". NHK. NHK. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b "四国 【比例代表】 開票結果 総選挙2012 衆院選" [Shikoku (PR List) election results, 2012 general election, House of Reps election] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b "開票結果・速報(比例・四国) 衆院選2014(衆議院選挙)" [Election results: Shikoku PR List, 2014 House of Reps election] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ "横山博幸(比例・四国・維新) 衆院選2014(衆議院選挙)" [Hiroyuki Yokoyama (PR list, Shikoku, Innovation) House of Reps election 2014 (House of Representatives election)] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  7. ^ "都道府県別有権者数、投票者数、投票率(比例代表)" [Registered voters, number of voters and turnout by prefecture (PR blocks)]. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  8. ^ "都道府県別有権者数、投票者数、投票率(比例代表)" [Registered voters, number of voters and turnout by prefecture (PR blocks)]. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ "衆院選2012 衆院選 選挙" [2012 House of Representatives election] (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  10. ^ "四国 【比例代表】 開票結果 総選挙2012 衆院選" [Shikoku (PR List) election results, 2012 general election, House of Reps election] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  11. ^ "香川 小選挙区 開票結果 総選挙2012 衆院選 選挙" [Kagawa districts, election results, 2012 House of Representatives election] (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  12. ^ "都道府県別有権者数、投票者数、投票率(比例代表)" [Registered voters, number of voters and turnout by prefecture (PR blocks)]. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  13. ^ "都道府県別有権者数、投票者数、投票率(比例代表)" [Registered voters, number of voters and turnout by prefecture (PR blocks)]. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  14. ^ Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: Results of the 2009 general election
  15. ^ Yomiuri Shimbun: Election feature 2009
  • JANJAN, The Senkyo: Results of general and by-elections for the House of Representatives 1890–2010