Fukushima 1st district explained

Fukushima 1st district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan.

Fukushima 1st district
Type:Parliamentary
Parl Name:Japanese House of Representatives
District Label:Prefecture
District:Fukushima
Region Label:Proportional District
Region:Tōhoku
Electorate:385,061[1] (1.698 times the population of Tottori 1st district)
Year:1994
Members Label:Representative
Members:Emi Kaneko
Seats:One
Party Label:Party
Party:CDP
Blank1 Name:Municipalities
Blank1 Info:Fukushima, Nihonmatsu, Date City, Motomiya, Date District, Adachi District

History

The constituency primarily consists of Fukushima and Date City, alongside Nihonmatsu. From the districts formation in 1994 and the first election in 1996 to 2012, the district primarily consisted of match-ups between the Ishihara family (unrelated to Shintaro Ishihara, of descent from) and LDP candidates, either Yoshitami Kameoka or, pre-2003, Tatsuo Sato. Kameoka has run in the district since 1996, and joined the LDP after Sato retired.

In 2014, the Democratic Party of Japan broke away from running Ishihara descendants after their past representative,, had joined the Tomorrow Party of Japan. Instead, they ran Emi Kaneko, a former member of the House of Councillors. She managed to close the gap to 3%, but ultimately lost, and was revived on proportional representation.

The two had a rematch in 2017, with Kaneko running as an independent following the merger of the Democratic Party with Kibō no Tō shortly before for the election. As an independent, she would not have been revived on the proportional block had she lost, but she managed to defeat Kameoka for the first time since 2012. She held the district again in 2021 after joining the CDP, but with a slightly narrower margin. Kameoka was revived proportionally both times.

In 2024, Kameoka was found to have been involved in the 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal. He was allowed to stay in the party, but was kicked off of the proportional list, meaning that he would not be revived under any circumstance due to his involvement. In the end, Kaneko managed to beat him by nearly twenty points. This left Kameoka without a seat in the Diet.

List of representatives

Party!Years served!Notes
Tatsuo SatoLDP1996-2005
Yoshitami KameokaLDP2005-2009
Yosaburo IshiharaDPJ2009-2012
PLF2012Left DPJ after consumption tax vote.
TPJ2012Joined TPJ when PLF merged. Lost re-election.
Yoshitami KameokaLDP2012-2017Lost re-election. Revived on proportional block, until 2024.
Emi KanekoIndependent2017-2019
CDP2019-Joined CDP.

Notes and References

  1. [Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications]