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) |
|---|
| 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 is enlarged to 50 members; and the proportional election system is 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.
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.
Proportional results in regular House of Councillors elections | 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
The total (party+preference) proportional votes, vote shares and allocated seats for each party are in the top row. Below are all elected candidates with number of preference votes in bold, and runner-up plus losing incumbents if any. "..." indicates higher-ranking losing non-incumbents. For parties without any seat, the top two candidates are listed with their personal votes.
2025
2019
2019 House of Councillors election – National Block results | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Elected candidates |
| Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) | 17,712,373 | 35.4% | 19 | - Tōru Miki (protected) – 600,190
- Yasushi Miura (protected) – 540,078
- Yoshifumi Tsuge – 288,080
- Tarō Yamada – 237,432
- Masamune Wada – 232,549
- Masahisa Satō – 225,617
- Nobuaki Satō – 217,620
- Seiko Hashimoto – 206,221
- Toshio Yamada – 202,122
- Haruko Arimura – 189,893
- Shōji Miyamoto – 178,210
- Masahiro Ishida – 159,596
- Tsuneo Kitamura – 154,578
- Akiko Honda – 152,808
- Seiichi Etō – 137,502
- Takashi Hanyūda – 133,646
- Masao Miyazaki – 131,727
- Akiko Santō – 114,596
- Masaaki Akaike – 92,420
|
| Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) | 7,917,721 | 15.8% | 8 | - Makiko Kishi – 157,849
- Shunichi Mizuoka – 148,309
- Masahito Ozawa – 144,751
- Saori Yoshikawa – 143,472
- Takashi Moriya – 104,339
- Ryūhei Kawada – 94,702
- Taiga Ishikawa – 73,799
- Genki Sudo – 73,787
|
| Kōmeitō | 6,536,336 | 13.1% | 7 | - Kanae Yamamoto – 594,289
- Hiroshi Yamamoto – 471,760
- Kaneshige Wakamatsu – 342,356
- Yoshihiro Kawano – 328,659
- Hideki Niizuma – 281,832
- Daisaku Hiraki – 183,869
- Hiroaki Shiota – 15,178
|
| Nippon Ishin no Kai | 4,907,844 | 9.8% | 5 | - Muneo Suzuki – 220,743
- Kunihiko Muroi – 87,188
- Satoshi Umemura – 58,270
- Takumi Shibata – 53,938
- Hirofumi Yanagase – 53,086
|
| Japanese Communist Party | 4,483,411 | 9.0% | 4 | - Akira Koike – 158,621
- Yoshiki Yamashita – 48,932
- Satoshi Inoue – 42,982
- Tomoko Kami – 34,696
|
| Democratic Party for the People | 3,481,078 | 7.0% | 3 | - Mami Tamura – 260,324
- Tetsuji Isozaki – 258,507
- Yoshifumi Hamano – 256,929
|
| Reiwa Shinsengumi | 2,280,253 | 4.6% | 2 | - Yasuhiko Funago (protected) – 991,757
- Eiko Kimura (protected) – 20,557
|
| Social Democratic Party (SDP) | 1,046,012 | 2.1% | 1 | - Tadatomo Yoshida – 149,287
|
| NHK Party | 987,885 | 2.0% | 1 | - Takashi Tachibana – 130,233 (resigned Oct 2019)
- Satoshi Hamada – 9,309 (replacement)
|
| Euthanasia Party | 269,052 | 0.5% | 0 | – |
| Happiness Realization Party | 202,279 | 0.4% | 0 | – |
2016
2016 House of Councillors election – National Block results | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Elected candidates |
| Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) | 20,114,788 | 35.9% | 19 | - Masayuki Tokushige (521,060)
- Shigeharu Aoyama (481,890)
- Satsuki Katayama (393,382)
- Satoshi Nakanishi (392,433)
- Eriko Imai (319,359)
- Toshiyuki Adachi (293,735)
- Eriko Yamatani (249,844)
- Shin'ya Fujiki (236,119)
- Hanako Jimi (210,562)
- Kanehiko Shindō (182,467)
- Emiko Takagai (177,810)
- Hiroshi Yamada (149,833)
- Toshiyuki Fujii (142,132)
- Masashi Adachi (139,110)
- Takashi Uto (137,993)
- Katsumi Ogawa (130,101)
- Yoshifumi Miyajima (122,833)
- Toshiei Mizuochi (114,485)
- Shūkō Sonoda (101,154)
|
| Democratic Party (DP) | 11,751,015 | 21.0% | 11 | - Masao Kobayashi (270,285)
- Makoto Hamaguchi (266,623)
- Wakako Yata (215,823)
- Yoshifu Arita (205,884)
- Takanori Kawai (196,023)
- Shōji Nanba (191,823)
- Takashi Esaki (184,187)
- Masayoshi Nataniya (176,683)
- Michihiro Ishibashi (171,486)
- Kenzō Fujisue (143,188)
- Shinkun Haku (138,813)
|
| Kōmeitō | 7,572,960 | 13.5% | 7 | - Hiroaki Nagasawa (942,266)
- Kōzō Akino (612,068)
- Shin'ichi Yokoyama (606,889)
- Seishi Kumano (605,223)
- Masaaki Taniai (478,174)
- Masayoshi Hamada (388,477)
- Masaru Miyazaki (18,571)
|
| Japanese Communist Party | 6,016,195 | 10.7% | 4 | - Tadayoshi Ichida (77,348)
- Tomoko Tamura (49,113)
- Mikishi Daimon (33,078)
- Tomo Iwabuchi (31,099)
|
| Osaka Ishin no Kai | 5,153,584 | 9.2% | 4 | - Toranosuke Katayama (194,902)
- Yoshimi Watanabe (143,343)
- Mitsuko Ishii (68,147)
- Akira Ishii (50,073)
|
| Social Democratic Party (SDP) | 1,536,239 | 2.7% | 1 | - Mizuho Fukushima (254,956)
|
| People's Life Party | 1,067,301 | 1.9% | 1 | - Ai Aoki (109,050)
|
| Party for Japanese Kokoro | 734,024 | 1.3% | 0 | – |
| No Party to Support | 647,071 | 1.1% | 0 | – |
| New Renaissance Party | 580,653 | 1.0% | 0 | – |
| Angry Voice of the Citizens | 466,706 | 0.8% | 0 | – |
| Happiness Realization Party | 366,815 | 0.6% | 0 | – |
2013
2013 House of Councillors election – National Block results | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Elected candidates |
| LDP | 18,460,404 | 34.7% | 18 | - Yoshifumi Tsuge – 429,002
- Toshio Yamada – 338,485
- Masahisa Satō – 326,541
- Midori Ishii – 294,148
- Seiko Hashimoto – 279,952
- Takashi Hanyūda – 249,818
- Nobuaki Satō – 215,506
- Masaaki Akaike – 208,319
- Akiko Santō – 205,779
- Seiichi Etō – 204,404
- Masahiro Ishida – 201,109
- Haruko Arimura – 191,343
- Shūji Miyamoto – 178,480
- Kazuya Maruyama – 153,303
- Tsuneo Kitamura – 142,613
- Miki Watanabe – 104,176
- Yoshio Kimura – 98,979
- Fusae Ōta – 77,173
|
| Kōmeitō | 7,568,080 | 14.2% | 7 | - Kanae Yamamoto – 996,959
- Daisaku Hiraki – 770,682
- Yoshihiro Kawano – 703,637
- Hiroshi Yamamoto – 592,814
- Kaneshige Wakamatsu – 577,951
- Yūichirō Uozumi – 540,817
- Hideki Niizuma – 26,044
|
| Democratic Party of Japan | 7,268,653 | 13.4% | 7 | - Tetsuji Isozaki – 271,553
- Yoshifumi Hamano – 235,917
- Kumiko Aihara – 235,636
- Kusuo Ōshima – 191,167
- Mieko Kamimoto – 176,248
- Saori Yoshikawa – 167,437
- Toshio Ishigami – 152,121
|
| Japan Restoration Party | 6,355,299 | 11.9% | 6 | - Antonio Inoki – 356,605
- Kyōko Nakayama – 306,341
- Mitsuo Gima – 40,484
- Takeshi Fujimaki – 33,237
- Masashi Nakano – 32,926
- Kunihiko Muroi – 32,107
|
| Japanese Communist Party | 5,154,055 | 9.7% | 5 | - Akira Koike – 134,325
- Yoshiki Yamashita – 129,149
- Tomoko Kami – 68,729
- Satoshi Inoue – 50,874
- Kōhei Nihi – 39,768
|
| Your Party | 4,755,160 | 8.9% | 4 | - Ryūhei Kawada – 117,389
- Kazuyuki Yamaguchi – 75,000
- Michitarō Watanabe – 50,253
- Yoshiyuki Inoue – 47,756
|
| SDP | 1,255,235 | 2.4% | 1 | - Seiji Mataichi – 156,155
|
| People's Life Party | 492,040 | 0.9% | 0 | – |
| New Party Daichi | 273,356 | 0.5% | 0 | – |
| Greens Japan | 246,020 | 0.5% | 0 | – |
| Green Wind | 218,685 | 0.4% | 0 | – |
| Happiness Realization Party | 109,342 | 0.2% | 0 | – |