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)

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)