Japanese House of Councillors national proportional representation block
National electoral district
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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).
| House of Councillors proportional district Sangiin hirei-ku | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary constituency for the Japanese House of Councillors | |
| Population | 127,313,275 (est. 2018) |
| Electorate | 105,019,203 (2022)[1] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1983 |
| Number of members | 100 (staggered 2×50) |
| Created from | House of Councillors national district |
History
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 was enlarged to 50 members, and the election system was 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
Ruling parties at the time of the election are bolded.
| Election | LDP | JSP/SDP | DPJ/CDP | JCP | Komeito | Others | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Seats | Votes | Seats | Votes | Seats | Votes | Seats | Votes | Seats | Votes | Seats | |
| 1983 | 35.3% | 19 | 16.3% | 9 | – | – | 8.9% | 7 | 15.7% | 8 | 8.4% | 4 |
| 1986 | 38.6% | 22 | 17.2% | 9 | – | – | 9.5% | 4 | 13.0% | 7 | 6.9% | 3 |
| 1989 | 27.3% | 15 | 35.1% | 20 | – | – | 7.0% | 4 | 10.9% | 6 | 4.9% | 2 |
| 1992 | 33.0% | 19 | 17.6% | 10 | – | – | 7.8% | 4 | 14.8% | 8 | 5.0% | 3 |
| 1995 | 27.3% | 15 | 16.9% | 9 | – | – | 9.5% | 5 | – | – | 30.8% | 18 |
| 1998 | 25.2% | 14 | 7.8% | 4 | – | – | 14.6% | 8 | 13.8% | 7 | 21.7% | 12 |
| 2001 | 38.6% | 20 | 6.6% | 3 | – | – | 7.9% | 4 | 15.0% | 8 | 16.4% | 8 |
| 2004 | 30.6% | 15 | 5.5% | 3 | – | – | 8.0% | 4 | 15.7% | 8 | 38.6% | 19 |
| 2007 | 28.1% | 14 | 4.5% | 2 | – | – | 7.5% | 3 | 13.2% | 7 | 41.2% | 21 |
| 2010 | 24.1% | 12 | 3.9% | 2 | – | – | 6.1% | 3 | 13.1% | 6 | 31.6% | 16 |
| 2013 | 34.7% | 18 | 2.4% | 1 | 8.9% | 5 | 9.7% | 5 | 14.2% | 7 | 26.3% | 17 |
| 2016 | 35.9% | 19 | 2.7% | 1 | 10.1% | 5 | 10.7% | 5 | 13.5% | 7 | 31.2% | 15 |
| 2019 | 35.4% | 19 | 2.1% | 1 | 7.9% | 4 | 9.0% | 4 | 13.1% | 7 | 37.6% | 15 |
| 2022 | 34.4% | 18 | 2.4% | 1 | 7.3% | 3 | 6.8% | 3 | 11.7% | 6 | 33.6% | 17 |
Recent results
Notes
- 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.