Niigata at-large district

Japan House of Councillors constituency

Niigata at-large district

新潟県選挙区
Parliamentary constituency
for the House of Councillors
Prefecture| Niigata
Electorate| 1,842,601 (as of September 2022)[1]
Current constituency
Created| 1947
Seats| 2
Councillors| Class of 2019:

* Sakura Uchikoshi (CDP)

Class of 2022:

* Kazuhiro Kobayashi (LDP)

The Niigata at-large district (Japanese: 新潟県選挙区, Hepburn: Niigata-ken senkyoku) is a constituency that represents Niigata Prefecture in the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. Since July 2019, it has two Councillors in the 242-member house, a decrease from its previous contingent of 3. Similar to other rural two seat districts in Northern Japan such as the Iwate at-large district, it often shows a willingness to buck the LDP and instead vote for opposition backed candidates, such as in 2019. Nonetheless, the LDP won the district by six points in the 2022 elections, and Uchikoshi only won by a margin of four points.

## Outline

[edit]

The constituency represents the entire population of Niigata Prefecture and has 1,925,565 registered voters as of September 2015.[2] Since the first House of Councillors election in 1947 Niigata has elected four Councillors to six-year terms, two at alternating elections held every three years. The district's number of voters is the third-lowest of the 10 prefectures that are represented by four Councillors; by comparison, the Hokkaido, Hyogo at-large district and Fukuoka districts each have more than 4 million voters but are represented by the same number of Councillors as Niigata.[2] To address this malapportionment in representation, a 2015 revision of the Public Officers Election Law decrease the representation of Niigata, Miyagi and Nagano districts to two Councillors while increasing Hyogo, Hokkaido and Fukuoka districts to six Councillors.[3] This change took effect at the 2016 election, after which time, Niigata will elect only one Councillor during every election.

The Councillors currently representing Niigata are:

* Kazhiro Kobayashi (LDP, first term; term ends in 2028)[4]
* Sakura Uchikoshi (CDP, first term; term ends in 2025)[5]

## Elected Councillors

[edit]

Class of 1947  | Election year  | Class of 1950
(1947: 3-year term)

|
|

Bunkichi Tamura
(Ind.)[note 1] | Kyōhei Shimojō
(Social Democratic)  | 1947 | Kazuo Kitamua (Liberal)  | Yoshio Fujita (Ind.)
1950 | Kazuo Kitamura[note 2]
(Liberal)  | Toshiei Kiyosawa
(Social Democratic)
Bunkichi Tamura
(Ryokufūkai)  | Yaheiji Saikawa[note 3]
(Liberal)  | 1953
[note 4]1955 by-election | Makie Koyanagi
(LDP)[note 5]
1956
Goro Takeuchi
(Social Democratic)  | Yoshio Sato[note 6]
(LDP)  | 1959
1962 | Zentaro Sugiyama
(Social Democratic)
1965
Takashi Sato[note 7]
(LDP)  | 1967 by-election[note 8]
1968 | Jūichiro Tsukada
(Ind.)[note 9] | Makoto Matsui[note 10]
(Social Democratic)
Zentaro Sugiyama
(Social Democratic)  | 1971
[note 11]1972 by-election | Takeo Kimi[note 12] (LDP)
1974 | Shiro Watari[note 13]
(LDP)  | Yutaka Shitoma[note 14]
(Social Democratic)
Jūichiro Tsukada
(LDP)  | [note 15]1976 by-election
[note 16]1977 by-election | Shin Hasegawa[note 17]
(LDP)
Masao Yoshida
(Social Democratic)  | 1977
1980
Toshio Inamura
(Social Democratic)  | Yoshio Yoshikawa
(LDP)  | 1983
1986
[note 18]1989 by-election | Kinuko Ōfuchi
(Social Democratic)
1989
[note 19]1990 by-election | Kazuo Majima
(LDP)
1992
Michio Hasegawa
(New Frontier)  | 1995
1998 | Naoki Tanaka
(LDP)[note 20]
Yuko Mori
(Liberal)[note 21] | Kazuo Majima[note 22]
(LDP)  | 2001
Takahiro Kuroiwa
(Ind.)[note 23] | 2002 by-election[note 24]
2004[10] | Masamichi Kondo
(Ind.)[note 25]
Yuko Mori (DPJ)  | Ichiro Tsukada
(LDP)  | 2007[11]
2010[12] | Naoki Tanaka (DPJ)  | Yaichi Nakahara
(LDP)
Naoki Kazama
(DPJ→DP→CDP)  | 2013[13]
2016[14] | Yuko Mori
(Liberal)[note 26]
Sakura Uchikoshi
(CDP)  | 2019[15]
2022 | Kazuhiro Kobayashi
(LDP)

1. ^ Joined Ryokufūkai (1947–60) after the election[6]
2. ^ Resigned 29 March 1955[7]
3. ^ Died in office 16 December 1958[7]
4. ^ Held 15 May 1955[7]
5. ^ First elected in May 1955 as a Japan Democratic Party candidate,[8] before the merger which created the LDP in November 1955.
6. ^ Died in office 29 August 1967[7]
7. ^ Resigned 4 November 1976[7]
8. ^ Held 5 November 1967[7]
9. ^ Later joined the LDP
10. ^ Died in office 10 November 1972[9]
11. ^ Held 17 December 1972[7]
12. ^ Resigned 27 March 1974[7]
13. ^ Died in office 4 April 1977[9]
14. ^ Resigned 15 May 1989[7]
15. ^ Held 12 December 1976[6]
16. ^ Held 22 May 1977[6]
17. ^ Died in office 28 October 1990[6]
18. ^ Held 25 June 1989[7]
19. ^ Held 9 December 1990[6]
20. ^ Was first elected as an independent in 1998 but joined the LDP soon after. Resigned from the LDP in 2008 and joined the DPJ in 2009.
21. ^ The Liberal Party merged with the DPJ in 2003.
22. ^ Died in office 22 November 2001[6]
23. ^ Joined the DPJ in December 2005)
24. ^ Held 28 April 2002[8]
25. ^ Joined the Social Democratic Party after his election.
26. ^ Rejoined the Liberal Party after her election.

## Election results

[edit]

2019[15] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| CDP | Sakura Uchikoshi | 521,717  | 50.49  |
| LDP | Ichiro Tsukada (Incumbent) | 479,050  | 46.36  |
|  | Kojima  | 32,628  | 2.16  | 3.16
Turnout |  |  |
2016[14] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Independent | Yuko Mori | 560,429 | 49.02 |
| LDP | Yaichi Nakahara (Incumbent) | 558,150  | 48.82  |
| Happiness Realization | Motoyuki Yokoi  | 24,639  | 2.16  |
Turnout |  | 59.77  | 3.99
2013[13] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| LDP | Ichiro Tsukada (Incumbent)
(endorsed by Komeito) | 456,542 | 43.0 |
| Democratic | Naoki Kazama | 204,834 | 19.3 |
| People's Life | Yuko Mori (Incumbent) | 165,308  | 15.6  |
| Restoration | Ryūichi Yoneyama | 107,591  | 10.1  |
| JCP | Hiroshi Nishizawa  | 60,317  | 5.7  |
| Social Democratic | Hideaki Watanabe  | 46,101  | 4.3  |
| Independent  | Miyoko Ankyu  | 15,612  | 1.5  |
| Happiness Realization | Hiroaki Ogose  | 5,188  | 0.5  |
Turnout |  |  |
2010[12] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Democratic | Naoki Tanaka (Incumbent) | 439,289 | 37.9 |
| LDP | Yaichi Nakahara | 412,217 | 35.5 |
| Independent  | Masamichi Kondo (Incumbent)
(Endorsed by People's New Party and Social Democratic Party) | 200,182  | 17.2  |
| JCP | Katsutoshi Takeda  | 73,579  | 6.3  |
| Independent  | Satoshi Annaka  | 24,300  | 2.1  |
| Happiness Realization | Kenya Kasamaki  | 10,987  | 0.9  |
Turnout |  |  |
2007[11] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| LDP | Ichiro Tsukada
(endorsed by Komeito) | 403,497 | 32.1 |
| Democratic | Yuko Mori (Incumbent)
(endorsed by People's New Party) | 355,901 | 28.3 |
| Democratic | Takahiro Kuroiwa (Incumbent) | 344,424  | 27.4  |
| Social Democratic | Akiko Yamamoto  | 91,016  | 7.2  |
| JCP | Katsutoshi Takeda  | 54,537  | 4.3  |
| Independent  | Mitsumasa Kusuhara  | 7,806  | 0.6  |
Turnout |  |  |
2004[10] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Independent  | Masamichi Kondo
(endorsed by Democratic Party and Social Democratic Party) | 428,117 | 34.9 |
| LDP | Naoki Tanaka (Incumbent)
(endorsed by Komeito) | 367,059 | 29.9 |
| LDP | Ichiro Tsukada
(endorsed by Komeito) | 319,968  | 26.1  |
| JCP | Kayoko Kuwahara  | 111,201  | 9.1  |
Turnout |  |  |
April 2002 By-election[8] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Independent  | Takahiro Kuroiwa | 541,881 | 53.3 |
| LDP | Ichiro Tsukada | 342,207  | 33.7  |
| JCP | Kayoko Kuwahara  | 132,672  | 13.0  |
Turnout |  | 52.44%  |

## See also

[edit]

* List of districts of the House of Councillors of Japan

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "総務省｜令和4年9月1日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数" [Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications - Number of registered voters as of 1 September 2022] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-01-04.
2. ^ a b "平成２７年９月２日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数" [Number of resident and non-resident enrolled voters as of 2 September 2015] (in Japanese). 2 September 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
3. ^ "Upper House districts set for shake-up after electoral reform laws pass Diet". Japan Times. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
4. ^ "Mr. KOBAYASHI Kazuhiro: House of Councillors". Retrieved 27 May 2023.
5. ^ "Ms.UCHIKOSHI Sakura: House of Councillors" (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 October 2021.
6. ^ a b c d e f "List of Former Councillors (Ta to Ha)" (in Japanese). House of Councillors. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "List of Former Councillors (A to Sa)" (in Japanese). House of Councillors. 2007. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
8. ^ a b c Satō, Yoshi (令) (December 2005). "Post-War By-Elections" (PDF) (in Japanese). national Diet Library. p. 92\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
9. ^ a b "List of Former Councillors (Ma to Wa)" (in Japanese). House of Councillors. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
10. ^ a b "選挙区開票結果 <新潟県>" [District results (Niigata)]. Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
11. ^ a b "選挙区 新潟県 開票結果 参院選2007" [Niigata at-large district election results, 2007 House of Councillors election]. Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
12. ^ a b "選挙区 新潟県 開票結果 参院選2010 参院選 選挙" [Niigata at-large district election results, 2010 House of Councillors election]. Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
13. ^ a b "選挙区 新潟 選挙結果 参議院選挙（参院選）2013" [Niigata At-large district election results, 2013 House of Councillors election] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
14. ^ a b "選挙区開票速報：新潟ー2016参議院" [Niigata At-large district election results, 2016 House of Councillors election] (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
15. ^ a b "Niigata At-large district election results, 2019 House of Councillors election". Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

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