Okayama 4th district

Okayama 4th district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. It is located in central coastal Okayama and covers the majority of the city of Kurashiki and the (as administrative unit: former) county of Tsukubo that has only one remaining municipality: Hayashima town. As of September 2012, 367,702 eligible voters were registered in the district, giving it slightly below average vote weight.[1]

The first representative for Okayama 4th district was Liberal Democrat Ryūtarō Hashimoto who had represented the five-member 2nd district before the electoral reform, as had his father Ryōgo before him. Hashimoto, hit by a scandal over political donations from the Japanese Dentists' Federation in 2004, retired from politics in the 2005 general election. His son Gaku tried to "inherit" the seat, but lost to Democrat Michiyoshi Yunoki by a margin of about 6,000 votes. Hashimoto won a seat in the Chūgoku proportional representation block. In his second attempt in the 2009 general election, he lost to Yunoki by an even wider margin (sekihairitsu 72.4) and also failed to win a proportional seat. In his third attempt in the landslide election of 2012, Hashimoto won the district.

List of representatives
Representative Party Dates Notes
Ryūtarō Hashimoto Liberal Democratic 1996–2005 Retired from politics
Michiyoshi Yunoki Democratic 2005–2012 Re-elected to a proportional seat in the Chūgoku block
Gaku Hashimoto Liberal Democratic 2012– Incumbent

Recent election results
2012[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democratic (Komeito) Gaku Hashimoto 91,155 46.4
Democratic (People's New) Michiyoshi Yunoki (won PR seat) 64,293 32.7
Restoration Masaharu Akazawa 29,798 15.2
Communist Nobuko Sumasu 11,125 5.7
2009[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic (People's New) Michiyoshi Yunoki 134,319 57.0
Liberal Democratic (Komeito) Gaku Hashimoto 97,284 41.3
Happiness Realization Miyuka Koiwai 3,929 1.7
Turnout 240,713 66.1
2005[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Michiyoshi Yunoki 102,370 47.4
Liberal Democratic Gaku Hashimoto (elected by PR) 96,356 44.6
Communist Tsuyoshi Azuma 17,094 7.9
Turnout 223,514 62.4
2003[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democratic Ryūtarō Hashimoto 104,653 56.5
Democratic Michiyoshi Yunoki 66,199 35.7
Communist Tsuyoshi Azuma 14,367 7.8
Turnout 192,293 54.3

References
  1. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 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)
  2. 総選挙2012>開票結果　小選挙区　岡山. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-05-15.
  3. 第45回衆議院議員選挙 - 岡山4区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). K.K. VoiceJapan. Retrieved 2012-02-08. External link in |work= (help)
  4. 第44回衆議院議員選挙 - 岡山4区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). K.K. VoiceJapan. Retrieved 2012-02-08. External link in |work= (help)
  5. 第43回衆議院議員選挙 - 岡山4区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). K.K. VoiceJapan. Retrieved 2012-02-08. External link in |work= (help)

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