The Japanese National Proportional Representation Block , known in Japan as the House of Councillors proportional district (参議院比例区 , Sangiin hirei-ku ) is an electoral district for the House of Councillors , the upper house of the National Diet of Japan . It consists of the whole nation and elects 50 members per election, 100 in total (fully effective after the 2022 regular election), by D'Hondt method proportional representation (PR).
Proportional voting was introduced to Japan in the 1983 House of Councillors election . The proportional district replaced the previous nationwide district (全国区 , zenkoku-ku ) which elected 100 members of the House of Councillors (50 per election) by single non-transferable vote , i.e. votes were for individuals not parties as in the prefectural districts. Initially, the proportional representation block also elected 50 members, but was reduced to 48 members in the 2001 election , bringing the total of proportional members down to 96 in 2004 .
From 1983 to 1998, the vote in the proportional district of the House of Councillors had to be for a party, lists were closed. Since the 2001 election there is the option to cast a preference vote for a single candidate instead, the vote then counts for both the party in the allocation of proportional seats to party lists, as well as the candidate in the ordering of party lists. From 2001 to 2016, the system was a most open list system: The ranking of candidates on a party list strictly followed the number of preference votes. This ranking also applies to the runner-up replacements in case of vacancies.
In the 2019 election, the proportional district is enlarged to 50 members; and the proportional election system is modified to no longer be fully open: In a so-called tokutei-waku (特定枠, literally "special frame") parties may now choose to prioritize certain proportional candidates, such protected candidates can no longer be elected personally, but always come first in the allocation of proportional seats.[ 2] [ 3]
Unlike elections to the House of Representatives , where a proportional segment was introduced in 1996, a simultaneous dual candidacy in both the majoritarian and the proportional election is not allowed in the House of Councillors.
Summary of results for major parties [ edit ]
Ruling parties at the time of the election are bolded.
Proportional results in regular House of Councillors elections[ 4] [ 5]
Regular election
LDP
JSP (–1996) /SDP (1996–)
JCP
["Old"] Kōmeitō (–1994) / Kōmei (1994–1998) / ["New"] Kōmeitō (1998–)
DSP (–1994) /NFP (1994–97) /LP (1998–2003) /PLP (2012–16) /LP (2016–2019) / ["Old"] DPFP (2018–2020) / ["New"] DPFP (2020–)
["Old"] DPJ (1996–98) /["New"] DPJ (1998–2016) /DP (2016–2018) / ["Old"] CDP (2017–2020) / ["New"] CDP (2020–)
Ishin (2012–2014; Engrish "JRP") /Ishin (2014–2015; "JIP") /OIshin (2015–2016; "ORP" etc.) /Ishin (2016–; "JIP" etc.)
Notable others(short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...)
Class of 1983/89/...
Class of 1986/92/...
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Vote
Seats
Party
Vote
Seats
Party
Vote
Seats
13th (1983)
35.3%
19
16.3%
9
8.9%
7
15.7%
8
8.4%
4
Salary
4.3%
2
14th (1986)
38.6%
22
17.2%
9
9.5%
4
13.0%
7
6.9%
3
NLC
2.4%
1
15th (1989)
27.3 %
15
35.1%
20
7.0%
4
10.9%
6
4.9%
2
RENGO
SNTV/FPTP only
16th (1992)
33.0%
19
17.6%
10
7.8%
4
14.8%
8
5.0%
3
JNP
8.0%
4
RENGO
SNTV/FPTP only
17th (1995)
27.3%
15
16.9%
9
9.5%
5
30.8%
18
NPH
3.6%
2
18th (1998)
25.2%
14
7.8%
4
14.6%
8
13.8%
7
9.3%
5
21.7%
12
19th (2001)
38.6%
20
6.6%
3
7.9%
4
15.0%
8
7.7%
4
16.4%
8
CP
2.3%
1
20th (2004)
30.6%
15
5.5%
3
8.0%
4
15.7%
8
38.6%
19
21st (2007)
28.1%
14
4.5%
2
7.5%
3
13.2%
7
39.5%
20
NPN
3.0%
1
PNP
2.2%
1
22nd (2010)
24.1%
12
3.9%
2
6.1%
3
13.1%
6
31.6%
16
YP
13.6%
7
PNP
1.7%
0
23rd (2013)
34.7%
18
2.4%
1
9.7%
5
14.2%
7
1.8%
0
13.4%
7
11.9%
6
YP
8.9%
4
24th (2016)
35.9%
19
2.7%
1
10.7%
5
13.5%
7
1.9%
1
21.0%
11
9.2%
4
25th (2019) [ 6]
35.4%
19
2.1%
1
9.0 %
4
13.1%
7
7.0%
3
15.8%
8
9.8%
5
ReiShin
4.6%
2
26th (2022) [ 7]
34.4%
18
2.4%
1
6.8 %
3
11.7%
6
6.0%
3
12.8%
7
14.8%
8
ReiShin
4.4%
2
The total (party+preference) proportional votes, vote shares and allocated seats for each party are in the top row. Below are all elected candidates with number of preference votes in bold, and runner-up plus losing incumbents if any. "..." indicates higher-ranking losing non-incumbents. For parties without any seat, the top two candidates are listed with their personal votes.
National block results in the 2019 House of Councillors election [ a] [ 6]
Liberal Democratic Party : 17,712,373.119 (35.37%), 19 seats
Constitutional Democratic Party : 7,917,720.945 (15.81%), 8 seats
Kōmeitō : 6,536,336.451 votes (13.05%), 7 seats
Nippon Ishin no Kai : 4,907,844.388 votes (9.80%), 5 seats
Japanese Communist Party : 4,483,411.183 votes (8.95%), 4 seats
Democratic Party for the People : 3,481,078.400 votes (6.95%), 3 seats
Reiwa Shinsengumi : 2,280,252.750 votes (4.55%), 2 seats
Social Democratic Party : 1,046,011.520 votes (2.09%), 1 seat
The Party to Protect the People from NHK : 987,885.326 votes (1.97%), 1 seat
Euthanasia Party : 269,052.000 votes (0.54%), 0 seats
Happiness Realization Party : 202,278.772 votes (0.40%), 0 seats
Tōru Miki (protected)Yasushi Miura (protected)Yoshifumi Tsuge 600,189.903Tarō Yamada 540,077.960Masamune Wada 288,080Masahisa Satō 237,432.095Nobuaki Satō 232,548.956Seiko Hashimoto 225,617Toshio Yamada 217,619.597Haruko Arimura 206,221Shōji Miyamoto 202,122Masahiro Ishida 189,893Tsuneo Kitamura 178,210Akiko Honda 159,596.151Seiichi Etō 154,578Takashi Hanyūda 152,807.948Masao Miyazaki 137,502Akiko Santō 133,645.785Masaaki Akaike 131,727.208 Natsumi Higa 114,596 ...Yoshio Kimura 92,419.856
Makiko Kishi 157,849Shun’ichi Mizuoka 148,309Masahito Ozawa 144,751Saori Yoshikawa 143,472Takashi Moriya 104,339.413Ryūhei Kawada 94,702Taiga Ishikawa 73,799Genki Sudo 73,787Sayaka Ichii 50,415.298 ...Yukihisa Fujita 28,919.215
Kanae Yamamoto 594,288.947Hiroshi Yamamoto 471,759.555Kaneshige Wakamatsu 342,356Yoshihiro Kawano 328,659Hideki Niizuma 281,832Daisaku Hiraki 183,869Hiroaki Shiota 15,178Jirō Takahashi 7,577
Muneo Suzuki 220,742.675Kunihiko Muroi 87,188Satoshi Umemura 58,269.522Takumi Shibata 53,938Hirofumi Yanagase 53,086Takeshi Fujimaki 51,619.511Kazuyuki Yamaguchi 42,231.776
Akira Koike 158,621Yoshiki Yamashita 48,932.480Satoshi Inoue 42,982.440Tomoko Kami 34,696.013 ...Sōhei Nihi 33,360
Mami Tamura 260,324Tetsuji Isozaki 258,507Yoshifumi Hamano 256,928.785Toshio Ishigami 192,586.679 ...Kusuo Ōshima 87,740
Yasuhiko Funago (protected)Eiko Kimura (protected)Toru Hasuike 20,557.200Onishi Tsuneki 19,842 ...Tarō Yamamoto 991,756.597
Tadatomo Yoshida 149,287Mio Nakamura 98,681.520Yano Atsuko 21,391Yuko Otsubaki 15,445
Takashi Tachibana [ b] 130,233.367Satoshi Hamada [ b] 9,308.959Shin Okamoto 4,269Kumamaru Eiji 2,850
Hidemitsu Sano 63,611
Ryōko Shaku 30,356Yukihisa Oikawa 8,290.772
National block results in the 2016 House of Councillors election [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] [ 11] [ 12] [ 13] [ 14] [ 15] [ 16] [ 17] [ 18]
Liberal Democratic Party : 20,114,788 votes (35.9%), 19 seats
Democratic Party : 11,751,015 votes (21.0%), 11 seats
Kōmeitō : 7,572,960 votes (13.5%), 7 seats
Japanese Communist Party : 6,016,195 votes (10.7%), 4 seats
Osaka Ishin no Kai : 5,153,584 votes (13.0%), 4 seats
Social Democratic Party : 1,536,239 votes (3.4%), 1 seat
People's Life Party : 1,067,301 votes (4.7%), 1 seat
Party for Japanese Kokoro : 734,024 votes (1.3%), 0 seats
No Party to Support : 647,071 votes (1.1%), 0 seats
New Renaissance Party : 580,653 votes (1.0%), 0 seats
Angry Voice of the Citizens : 466,706 votes (0.8%), 0 seats
Happiness Realization Party : 366,815 votes (0.6%), 0 seats
Masayuki Tokushige 521,060Shigeharu Aoyama 481,890Satsuki Katayama 393,382Satoshi Nakanishi 392,433Eriko Imai 319,359Toshiyuki Adachi 293,735Eriko Yamatani 249,844Shin'ya Fujiki 236,119Hanako Jimi 210,562Kanehiko Shindō 182,467Emiko Takagai 177,810Hiroshi Yamada 149,833Toshiyuki Fujii 142,132Masashi Adachi 139,110Takashi Uto 137,993Katsumi Ogawa 130,101Yoshifumi Miyajima 122,833Toshiei Mizuochi 114,485Shūkō Sonoda 101,154 Isao Takeuchi 87,578 ...Tsuneo Horiuchi 84,597
Masao Kobayashi 270,285Makoto Hamaguchi 266,623Wakako Yata 215,823Yoshifu Arita 205,884Takanori Kawai 196,023Shōji Nanba 191,823Takashi Esaki 184,187Masayoshi Nataniya 176,683Michihiro Ishibashi 171,486Kenzō Fujisue 143,188Shinkun Haku 138,813Kaoru Tashiro 113,571 ...Naoki Tanaka 86,596Takumi Shibata 73,166 ...Takeshi Maeda 59,853Jirō Ono 46,213Masami Nishimura 38,899
Hiroaki Nagasawa 942,266Kōzō Akino 612,068Shin'ichi Yokoyama 606,889Seishi Kumano 605,223Masaaki Taniai 478,174Masayoshi Hamada 388,477Masaru Miyazaki 18,571 Shinji Takeuchi 7,489
Tadayoshi Ichida 77,348Tomoko Tamura 49,113Mikishi Daimon 33,078Tomo Iwabuchi 31,099Ryōsuke Takeda 23,938 Tomoko Okuda 23,680
Toranosuke Katayama 194,902Yoshimi Watanabe 143,343Mitsuko Ishii 68,147Akira Ishii 50,073 Tsuyoshi Gibu 43,679
Mizuho Fukushima 254,956Tadatomo Yoshida 153,197
Ai Aoki 109,050Yumiko Himei 16,116
Akira Nakayama 77,884Shingo Nishimura 42,296
Hidemitsu Sano 31,334Akiko Hondō 18,035
Tarō Yamada 291,188Hiroyuki Arai 63,757
Kobayashi Takashi 78,272Yoriko Madoka 20,496
Hiroko Nanami 31,717Ryōko Shaku 28,579
National block results in the 2013 House of Councillors election [ 19] [ 20] [ 21] [ 22] [ 23] [ 24] [ 25] [ 26] [ 27] [ 28] [ 29] [ 30]
Liberal Democratic Party : 18,460,404 votes (34.7%), 18 seats
Kōmeitō : 7,568,080 votes (14.2%), 7 seats
Democratic Party of Japan : 7,268,653 votes (13.4%), 7 seats
Japan Restoration Party : 6,355,299 votes (11.9%), 6 seat
Japanese Communist Party : 5,154,055 votes (9.7%), 5 seats
Your Party : 4,755,160 votes (8.9%), 4 seats
Social Democratic Party : 1,255,235 votes (2.4%), 1 seat
People's Life Party : 492,040 votes (4.7%), 0 seat
New Party Daichi : 273,356 votes (1.3%), 0 seats
Greens Japan : 246,020 votes (1.1%), 0 seats
Green Wind : 218,685 votes (1.0%), 0 seats
Happiness Realization Party : 109,342 votes (0.4%), 0 seats
Yoshifumi Tsuge 429,002Toshio Yamada 338,485Masahisa Satō 326,541Midori Ishii 294,148Seiko Hashimoto 279,952Takashi Hanyūda 249,818Nobuaki Satō 215,506Masaaki Akaike 208,319Akiko Santō 205,779Seiichi Etō 204,404Masahiro Ishida 201,109Haruko Arimura 191,343Shūji Miyamoto 178,480Kazuya Maruyama 153,303Tsuneo Kitamura 142,613Miki Watanabe 104,176Yoshio Kimura 98,979Fusae Ōta 77,173Masaru Wakasa 76,829
Kanae Yamamoto 996,959Daisaku Hiraki 770,682Yoshihiro Kawano 703,637Hiroshi Yamamoto 592,814Kaneshige Wakamatsu 577,951Yūichirō Uozumi 540,817Hideki Niizuma 26,044 Nobuo Kawashima 7,737
Tetsuji Isozaki 271,553Yoshifumi Hamano 235,917Kumiko Aihara 235,636Kusuo Ōshima 191,167Mieko Kamimoto 176,248Saori Yoshikawa 167,437Toshio Ishigami 152,121Takanori Kawai 138,830Hajime Ishii 123,355 ...Toshiharu Todoroki 103,996Marutei Tsurunen 82,858 ...Yoshikazu Tarui 13,178
Antonio Inoki 356,605Kyōko Nakayama 306,341Mitsuo Gima 40,484Takeshi Fujimaki 33,237Masashi Nakano 32,926Kunihiko Muroi 32,107Hirokazu Tsuchida 28,616
Akira Koike 134,325Yoshiki Yamashita 129,149Tomoko Kami 68,729Satoshi Inoue 50,874Kōhei Nihi 39,768 Yūko Yamamoto 36,580
Ryūhei Kawada 117,389Kazuyuki Yamaguchi 75,000Michitarō Watanabe 50,253Yoshiyuki Inoue 47,756 Jun'ichi Kawai 39,425
Seiji Mataichi 156,1555 Hiroji Yamashiro 112,641
Kenji Yamaoka 56,372Yukiko Miyake 38,766
Muneo Suzuki 62,902Kenkō Matsuki 38,721
Yohei Miyake 178,970Nao Suguro 9,109
Kuniko Tanioka 51,367Masahiko Yamada 44,231
Yanai Hisshou 17,010TOKMA 16,797
^ These are full official results including decimals stemming from fractional votes ; in the proportional district, they occur very often due to the high number of candidates and thus potential ambiguities. Elsewhere, election results are sometimes edited to contain no decimals; even then, whole numbers do not always represent whole votes, but may contain whole fractions of larger numbers of ambiguous votes.
^ a b Tachibana resigned his seat on October 10, 2019. Hamada, who placed second on the list, took his seat.
^ Sōmushō : Results of the 26th regular election (pdf, Japanese), p. 7, retrieved 2023/7/18.
^ Sōmushō, News on the electoral system , October 24, 2018: 参議院議員選挙制度の改正について , retrieved May 16, 2019.
^ NHK kaisetsu blog archive, July 19, 2018: 「参院定数6増 比例特定枠導入~選挙制度改革行方は」(時論公論) , retrieved May 16, 2019.
^ For 1983–2004 elections: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (domestically: Ministry of general affairs, Sōmushō ), otatistics office (tōkei-kyoku): Long-term statistics , Chapter 27: Public servants and elections Archived 2015-02-15 at the Wayback Machine , 27-13: 参議院議員通常選挙の党派別当選者数及び得票数 (Number of elected members and votes by party in regular elections of members of the House of Councillors) Archived 2011-03-23 at the Wayback Machine (excel)
^ For more recent elections: MIC, autonomy and administration office (jichi-gyōsei-kyoku), elections department (senkyo-ka): election-related statistics and results, Regular elections of members of the House of Councillors
^ a b Sōmushō: 第25回参議院議員通常選挙結果調 , pp. 37–41, retrieved September 18, 2019.
^ NHK Senkyo Web: Proportional district, vote & seat results by party , retrieved 2023/7/18.
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, LDP Archived 2018-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, DP Archived 2018-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Kōmeitō Archived 2017-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, JCP Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Ōsaka ishin no kai Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Seikatsu no tō Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Nippon no kokoro o taisetsu ni suru tō Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Shiji seitō nashi Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Shintō kaikaku Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Kokumin ikari no koe Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2016 election results: proportional election, Kōfukujitsugentō Archived 2018-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Jiyūminshutō Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Kōmeitō Archived 2017-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Minshutō Archived 2013-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Nippon Ishin no Kai Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Nihon Kyōsantō Archived 2013-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Minna no Tō Archived 2013-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Shakaiminshutō Archived 2017-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Seikatsu no Tō Archived 2017-06-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Shintō Daichi Archived 2013-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Midori no Tō Greens Japan Archived 2017-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Midori no Kaze Archived 2017-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ Yomiuri Online , 2013 election results: proportional election, Kōfukujitsugentō Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine