# Saga 1st district

Saga 1st district (佐賀県第1区, Saga-ken dai-ikku) is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Saga Prefecture.
Kazuhiro Haraguchi initially won the district narrowly for the New Frontier Party (NFP) in 1996 but lost it in 2000 to Takanori Sakai (LDP) who was appointed as Cabinet Office Vice Minister in the 2nd realigned Mori cabinet. In March 2003, Sakai was arrested (and later sentenced to 32 months in prison) for having received illicit corporate donations in violation of the Political Funds Control Law. Takamaro Fukuoka replaced Sakai as LDP candidate for Saga 1 in the 2003 election and lost to Haraguchi. The "postal privatization" election of 2005 gave the LDP a landslide victory, and Fukuoka beat Haraguchi despite the fact that the DPJ's opposition ally, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), unlike in previous elections did not nominate a candidate in Saga 1st district. In the landslide LDP defeat of 2009, Haraguchi won the district for the third time and became the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in the Hatoyama Cabinet. Haraguchi was defeated by Kazuchika Iwata (LDP), a former second-generation Saga prefectural assemblyman, in 2012 but regained the seat in 2014.
In September 2023 the district had 331,037 eligible voters. In 2012 they were 237,748.
Before the 1994 electoral reform, the area had been part of Saga At-large district where five representatives were elected by single non-transferable vote.

## Area

* Saga City
* Tosu
* Kanzaki
* Yoshinogari (town in Kanzaki District)
* Towns of Miyaki District

## List of representatives

| Election | Representative | Party | Notes |
| 1996 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | NFP | After the dissolution of NFP, Haraguchi joined DPJ through Voice of the people, GGP. |
| 2000 | Takanori Sakai | LDP | |
| 2003 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | DPJ | |
| 2005 | Takamaro Fukuoka | LDP | Elected to the House of Councillors in 2010 |
| 2009 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | DPJ | |
| 2012 | Kazuchika Iwata | LDP | |
| 2014 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | DPJ | |
| 2017 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | Ind. | Haraguchi tried to run for office in Kibō no Tō, but gave up. |
| 2021 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | CDP | |
| 2024 | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | CDP | |

## Election results

2024 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | CDP | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 96,083 | 54.7 |
| | LDP | Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat) | 79,723 | 45.3 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 330,285 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 54.48 |
| | CDP hold | CDP hold | CDP hold | CDP hold |
2021 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | CDP | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 92,452 | 50.04 | |
| | LDP (Komeito) | Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat) | 92,319 | 49.96 | |
2017 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Independent (DP) | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 105,487 | 55.65 |
| LDP (Komeito) | Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat) | 78,972 | 41.66 |
| Happiness Realization Party | Toru Nakajima | 5086 | 2.68 |
2014 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 85,903 | 47.5 | |
| | LDP | Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat) | 83,421 | 46.1 | |
| | JCP | Makoto Koga | 11,483 | 6.4 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 327,125 | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 56.43 | |
| | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP |
2012 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| LDP (Kōmeitō) | Kazuchika Iwata | 70,547 | 49.2 |
| DPJ (PNP) | Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat) | 63,007 | 43.9 |
| JCP | Hitoshi Ōmori | 9,857 | 6.9 |
2009 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | DPJ (SDP, PNP support) | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 96,618 | |
| | LDP (Kōmeitō support) | Takamaro Fukuoka | 75,475 | |
| | Happiness Realization Party | Ken Koba | 1,568 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 175,824 | 74.77 |
2005 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Takamaro Fukuoka | 84,643 | |
| | DPJ | Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat) | 75,449 | |
| | JCP | Akemi Mutō | 8,029 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 170,282 | 73.28 |
2003 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | DPJ | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 70,271 | |
| | LDP | Takamaro Fukuoka | 66,446 | |
| | SDP | Hisahiro Shibata | 8,315 | |
| | JCP | Yasutoshi Kamimura | 4,977 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 152,297 | 66.13 |
2000 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes |
| LDP | Takanori Sakai | 70,155 |
| DPJ | Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat) | 62,932 |
| SDP | Katsuyō Ogata | 30,018 |
| JCP | Yasutoshi Kamimura | 7,173 |
| Liberal League | Kō Nagai | 1,612 |
1996 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes |
| NFP | Kazuhiro Haraguchi | 62,515 |
| LDP | Takanori Sakai (Won PR seat) | 60,286 |
| SDP | Katsuyō Ogata | 27,514 |
| JCP | Yasutoshi Kamimura | 7,670 |
| Liberal League | Takashi Kimura | 2,493 |