Kumamoto 4th district

Kumamoto 4th district (Kumamoto yon-ku 熊本4区) is a current single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in Kumamoto and since 2017 covers roughly the Southern half of Kumamoto.[1]

Before 2013, it consisted of a small section of the prefectural capital Kumamoto (the former towns of Tomiai and Jōnan in today's Minami-ku), the cities of Amakusa, Uto, Kami-Amakusa and Uki and the remaining towns and villages of the former Amakusa, Upper (Kami-Mashiki) and Lower Mashiki (Shimo-Mashiki) counties. As of September 2012, 294,547 eligible voters were resident in the district.[2]

Before 1996, the area had been part of the four-member Kumamoto 2nd district. Representatives had included Sunao Sonoda (DPJ→PDP→Progressive→JDP→LDP, 1947–1984) and his son Hiroyuki (LDP→NPH, 1986–1996). Hiroyuki Sonoda, deputy chief cabinet secretary during the LDP-JSP-NPH coalition, won the new single-member 4th district six times in a row after the electoral reform. In several elections, he was not even challenged by a candidate from the major party of the opposing bloc, exceptions were the initial election of 1996 and the "postal election" of 2005. In 2012, neither of the two established major parties contested the seat. Sonoda's main challenger in 2012, Masayoshi Yagami, had become a Liberal Democrat (JNP→NFP→LDP) when he represented the neighbouring 5th district in the 1990s, but became an independent for his two terms as mayor of Sagara and his failed run for governor of Kumamoto in 2008.

List of representatives
Representative Party Dates Notes
Hiroyuki Sonoda NPH 1996–2000 Became independent in 1998, returned to the LDP in 1999
LDP 2000–2012 Joined SPJ in 2010, merged into SP, then JRP in 2012
JRP 2012–2014 Co-founded the Party for Future Generations in 2014
PJK 2014–2017 Returned to LDP in 2015, moves to the Kyūshū PR block in the 2017 election[3]

Election results
2014[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Japanese Kokoro Hiroyuki Sonoda 101,581 75.9 +10.0
Communist Eiji Iseri 32,223 24.1 new
Turnout
The Party for Japanese Kokoro gain from Restoration Swing
2012[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Restoration Hiroyuki Sonoda 102,975 65.9 +6.7
Independent Masayoshi Yagami 36,652 23.5 new
Communist Yōko Minoda 16,585 10.6 new
Turnout
Restoration gain from Liberal Democratic Swing
2009[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democratic Hiroyuki Sonoda 123,900 59.2 -9.1
People's New Shin'ichi Matsunaga 78,811 37.6 new
Happiness Realization Ichirō Kōno 6,668 3.2 new
Turnout
Liberal Democratic hold Swing
2005[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democratic Hiroyuki Sonoda 136,380 68.3 -5.3
Democratic Motosuke Matsumoto 63,169 31.7 new
Turnout
Liberal Democratic hold Swing
2003[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democratic Hiroyuki Sonoda 137,428 73.6 -5.6
Social Democratic Ikuo Morikawa 36,977 19.8 new
Communist Shimako Iseri 12,262 6.6 new
Turnout
Liberal Democratic hold Swing
2000[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democratic Hiroyuki Sonoda 149,156 79.2 +20.2
Liberal League Kōji Wakaki (? 若城浩史) 21,028 11.2 new
Communist Keiichi Fukuda 18,188 9.7 new
Turnout
Liberal Democratic gain from New Party Sakigake Swing
1996[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
New Party Sakigake Hiroyuki Sonoda 117,441 59.0 N/A
New Frontier Kimihiro Yasuda 73,231 36.8 N/A
Communist Nobuhiro Yamamoto 8,511 4.3 N/A
Turnout
New Party Sakigake win (new seat)
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References
  1. MIC: 2017 changes to House of Representatives electoral districts, Map and table of changes in Kumamoto (in Japanese)
  2. MIC: 平成24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>選挙区ごとの選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数等 (in Japanese)
  3. Liberal Democratic Party: Nominated candidates (in both tiers) for the 48th general House of Representatives election (in Japanese)
  4. 総選挙2014>開票結果　小選挙区　熊本. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  5. 総選挙2012>開票結果　小選挙区　熊本. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  6. ２００９総選挙 開票結果 小選挙区・熊本４区. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  7. 総選挙2005>開票結果　小選挙区　熊本. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  8. 総選挙2003>小選挙区　熊本. Mainichi Broadcasting System (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  9. 第42回衆議院議員選挙 - 熊本4区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). VoiceJapan. Retrieved 2013-06-05. External link in |work= (help)
  10. 第41回衆議院議員選挙 - 熊本4区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). VoiceJapan. Retrieved 2013-06-05. External link in |work= (help)

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