Tokushima at-large district (徳島県選挙区, Tokushima-ken senkyoku) was a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It consists of Tokushima Prefecture and elects two Councillors, one every three years by a first-past-the-post system for a six-year term. In the first election in 1947, Tokushima like all districts used single non-transferable vote to elect both its Councillors in one election.
Single-member districts (ichinin-ku) for the House of Councillors often play a decisive role for the outcome of elections as little swing in votes is required to achieve a change of the Councillors elected there. Tokushima in predominantly rural Shikoku has for decades voted for candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) or ex-LDP conservative independents by large margins. In the landslide election of 1989 that left the LDP-led government without a majority in the House of Councillors for the first time, a so-called "twisted parliament" (nejire kokkai), Harumi Inui from RENGO trade union federation's Rengō no Kai won Tokushima against incumbent Tomoyoshi Kamanaga by a margin of 60,000 votes.
With its 641,534 registered voters (as of September 2015), [1] it is the fourth-smallest electoral district for the house. To address the imbalance in representation between districts, a 2015 revision of the Public Officers Election Law will see the district merged with the Kochi At-large district to create the Tokushima-Kochi At-large district; [2] this change will begin to take effect at the 2016 election, at which one Councillor will be elected.
The current Councillors for Tokushima are:
class of 1947 | election year | class of 1950 |
---|---|---|
#1 (1947: #1, 6-year term) |
#1 (1947: #2, 3-year term) | |
Yojin Akazawa (Kakushin Kyōdō, "Progressive Cooperation") [3] |
1947 [4] | Makio Kishino (Indep.) [3] |
1947 by-el. [5] | Mitsu Kōro ( DP) | |
1950 [6] | Mitsu Kōro ( NDP) | |
Yokichirō Miki (Indep.) | 1953 [7] | |
1956 [8] | Mitsu Kōro ( LDP) | |
Yokichirō Miki ( LDP) | 1959 [9] | |
1962 [10] | ||
1965 [11] | ||
1968 [12] | Kentarō Kujime ( LDP) | |
Kōshō Ogasa (Indep.) | 1971 [13] | |
1974 [14] | Kentarō Kujime (Indep.) | |
Tomoyoshi Kamenaga ( LDP) | 1977 [15] | |
1980 [16] | Ken Naitō ( LDP) | |
1983 [17] | ||
1986 [18] | Kōji Matsuura ( LDP) | |
Harumi Inui ( Rengō no Kai) | 1989 [19] | |
1992 [20] | ||
Shūji Kitaoka ( LDP) | 1995 [21] | |
1998 [22] | Kiseko Takahashi (Indep.) [23] | |
2001 [24] | ||
2004 [25] | Masakatsu Koike ( LDP) | |
Tomoji Nakatani ( DPJ) | 2007 [26] | |
2010 [27] | Yūsuke Nakanishi ( LDP) | |
Toru Miki ( LDP) | 2013 [28] | |
2016 | seat to be abolished | |
seat to be abolished | 2019 |
Tokushima at-large district (徳島県選挙区, Tokushima-ken senkyoku) was a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It consists of Tokushima Prefecture and elects two Councillors, one every three years by a first-past-the-post system for a six-year term. In the first election in 1947, Tokushima like all districts used single non-transferable vote to elect both its Councillors in one election.
Single-member districts (ichinin-ku) for the House of Councillors often play a decisive role for the outcome of elections as little swing in votes is required to achieve a change of the Councillors elected there. Tokushima in predominantly rural Shikoku has for decades voted for candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) or ex-LDP conservative independents by large margins. In the landslide election of 1989 that left the LDP-led government without a majority in the House of Councillors for the first time, a so-called "twisted parliament" (nejire kokkai), Harumi Inui from RENGO trade union federation's Rengō no Kai won Tokushima against incumbent Tomoyoshi Kamanaga by a margin of 60,000 votes.
With its 641,534 registered voters (as of September 2015), [1] it is the fourth-smallest electoral district for the house. To address the imbalance in representation between districts, a 2015 revision of the Public Officers Election Law will see the district merged with the Kochi At-large district to create the Tokushima-Kochi At-large district; [2] this change will begin to take effect at the 2016 election, at which one Councillor will be elected.
The current Councillors for Tokushima are:
class of 1947 | election year | class of 1950 |
---|---|---|
#1 (1947: #1, 6-year term) |
#1 (1947: #2, 3-year term) | |
Yojin Akazawa (Kakushin Kyōdō, "Progressive Cooperation") [3] |
1947 [4] | Makio Kishino (Indep.) [3] |
1947 by-el. [5] | Mitsu Kōro ( DP) | |
1950 [6] | Mitsu Kōro ( NDP) | |
Yokichirō Miki (Indep.) | 1953 [7] | |
1956 [8] | Mitsu Kōro ( LDP) | |
Yokichirō Miki ( LDP) | 1959 [9] | |
1962 [10] | ||
1965 [11] | ||
1968 [12] | Kentarō Kujime ( LDP) | |
Kōshō Ogasa (Indep.) | 1971 [13] | |
1974 [14] | Kentarō Kujime (Indep.) | |
Tomoyoshi Kamenaga ( LDP) | 1977 [15] | |
1980 [16] | Ken Naitō ( LDP) | |
1983 [17] | ||
1986 [18] | Kōji Matsuura ( LDP) | |
Harumi Inui ( Rengō no Kai) | 1989 [19] | |
1992 [20] | ||
Shūji Kitaoka ( LDP) | 1995 [21] | |
1998 [22] | Kiseko Takahashi (Indep.) [23] | |
2001 [24] | ||
2004 [25] | Masakatsu Koike ( LDP) | |
Tomoji Nakatani ( DPJ) | 2007 [26] | |
2010 [27] | Yūsuke Nakanishi ( LDP) | |
Toru Miki ( LDP) | 2013 [28] | |
2016 | seat to be abolished | |
seat to be abolished | 2019 |