# Japanese House of Councillors national proportional representation block

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).

## 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 :
| Regular election | Regular election | LDP | LDP | JSP (–1996)/ SDP (1996–) | JSP (–1996)/ SDP (1996–) | JCP | JCP | ["Old"] Kōmeitō (–1994)/ Kōmei (1994–1998)/ ["New"] Kōmeitō (1998–) | ["Old"] Kōmeitō (–1994)/ Kōmei (1994–1998)/ ["New"] Kōmeitō (1998–) | DSP (–1994)/ NFP (1994–97)/ LP (1998–2003)/ PLP (2012–16)/ LP (2016–2019)/ ["Old"] DPFP (2018–2020)/ ["New"] DPFP (2020–) | DSP (–1994)/ NFP (1994–97)/ LP (1998–2003)/ PLP (2012–16)/ LP (2016–2019)/ ["Old"] DPFP (2018–2020)/ ["New"] DPFP (2020–) | ["Old"] DPJ (1996–98)/ ["New"] DPJ (1998–2016)/ DP (2016–2018)/ ["Old"] CDP (2017–2020)/ ["New"] CDP (2020–) | ["Old"] DPJ (1996–98)/ ["New"] DPJ (1998–2016)/ DP (2016–2018)/ ["Old"] CDP (2017–2020)/ ["New"] CDP (2020–) | Ishin (2012–2014; Engrish "JRP")/ Ishin (2014–2015; "JIP")/ OIshin (2015–2016; "ORP" etc.)/ Ishin (2016–; "JIP" etc.) | Ishin (2012–2014; Engrish "JRP")/ Ishin (2014–2015; "JIP")/ OIshin (2015–2016; "ORP" etc.)/ Ishin (2016–; "JIP" etc.) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) | Notable others (short-term major parties, minor ruling parties, ...) |
| Class of 1983/89/... | Class of 1986/92/... | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | Party | Vote | Seats | Party | Vote | Seats |
| 13th (1983) | | 35.3% | 19 | 16.3% | 9 | 8.9% | 7 | 15.7% | 8 | 8.4% | 4 | | | | | Salary | 4.3% | 2 | | | |
| | 14th (1986) | 38.6% | 22 | 17.2% | 9 | 9.5% | 4 | 13.0% | 7 | 6.9% | 3 | | | | | NLC | 2.4% | 1 | | | |
| 15th (1989) | | 27.3% | 15 | 35.1% | 20 | 7.0% | 4 | 10.9% | 6 | 4.9% | 2 | | | | | RENGO | SNTV/FPTP only | SNTV/FPTP only | | | |
| | 16th (1992) | 33.0% | 19 | 17.6% | 10 | 7.8% | 4 | 14.8% | 8 | 5.0% | 3 | | | | | JNP | 8.0% | 4 | RENGO | SNTV/FPTP only | SNTV/FPTP only |
| 17th (1995) | | 27.3% | 15 | 16.9% | 9 | 9.5% | 5 | | | 30.8% | 18 | | | | | NPH | 3.6% | 2 |
| | 18th (1998) | 25.2% | 14 | 7.8% | 4 | 14.6% | 8 | 13.8% | 7 | 9.3% | 5 | 21.7% | 12 | | | | | | | | |
| 19th (2001) | | 38.6% | 20 | 6.6% | 3 | 7.9% | 4 | 15.0% | 8 | 7.7% | 4 | 16.4% | 8 | | | CP | 2.3% | 1 | | | |
| | 20th (2004) | 30.6% | 15 | 5.5% | 3 | 8.0% | 4 | 15.7% | 8 | | | 38.6% | 19 | | | | | | | | |
| 21st (2007) | | 28.1% | 14 | 4.5% | 2 | 7.5% | 3 | 13.2% | 7 | | | 39.5% | 20 | | | NPN | 3.0% | 1 | PNP | 2.2% | 1 |
| | 22nd (2010) | 24.1% | 12 | 3.9% | 2 | 6.1% | 3 | 13.1% | 6 | | | 31.6% | 16 | | | YP | 13.6% | 7 | PNP | 1.7% | 0 |
| 23rd (2013) | | 34.7% | 18 | 2.4% | 1 | 9.7% | 5 | 14.2% | 7 | 1.8% | 0 | 13.4% | 7 | 11.9% | 6 | YP | 8.9% | 4 |
| | 24th (2016) | 35.9% | 19 | 2.7% | 1 | 10.7% | 5 | 13.5% | 7 | 1.9% | 1 | 21.0% | 11 | 9.2% | 4 | |
| 25th (2019) | | 35.4% | 19 | 2.1% | 1 | 9.0 % | 4 | 13.1% | 7 | 7.0% | 3 | 15.8% | 8 | 9.8% | 5 | ReiShin | 4.6% | 2 |
| | 26th (2022) | 34.4% | 18 | 2.4% | 1 | 6.8 % | 3 | 11.7% | 6 | 6.0% | 3 | 12.8% | 7 | 14.8% | 8 | ReiShin | 4.4% | 2 |

## 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.

### 2019

National block results in the 2019 House of Councillors election :
| Liberal Democratic Party: 17,712,373.119 (35.37%), 19 seats | Constitutional Democratic Party: 7,917,720.945 (15.81%), 8 seats | Kōmeitō: 6,536,336.451 votes (13.05%), 7 seats | Nippon Ishin no Kai: 4,907,844.388 votes (9.80%), 5 seats | Japanese Communist Party: 4,483,411.183 votes (8.95%), 4 seats | Democratic Party for the People: 3,481,078.400 votes (6.95%), 3 seats | Reiwa Shinsengumi: 2,280,252.750 votes (4.55%), 2 seats | Social Democratic Party: 1,046,011.520 votes (2.09%), 1 seat | The Party to Protect the People from NHK: 987,885.326 votes (1.97%), 1 seat | Euthanasia Party: 269,052.000 votes (0.54%), 0 seats | Happiness Realization Party: 202,278.772 votes (0.40%), 0 seats |
| Tōru Miki (protected) Yasushi Miura (protected) Yoshifumi Tsuge 600,189.903 Tarō Yamada 540,077.960 Masamune Wada 288,080 Masahisa Satō 237,432.095 Nobuaki Satō 232,548.956 Seiko Hashimoto 225,617 Toshio Yamada 217,619.597 Haruko Arimura 206,221 Shōji Miyamoto 202,122 Masahiro Ishida 189,893 Tsuneo Kitamura 178,210 Akiko Honda 159,596.151 Seiichi Etō 154,578 Takashi Hanyūda 152,807.948 Masao Miyazaki 137,502 Akiko Santō 133,645.785 Masaaki Akaike 131,727.208 Natsumi Higa 114,596 ... Yoshio Kimura 92,419.856 | Makiko Kishi 157,849 Shun’ichi Mizuoka 148,309 Masahito Ozawa 144,751 Saori Yoshikawa 143,472 Takashi Moriya 104,339.413 Ryūhei Kawada 94,702 Taiga Ishikawa 73,799 Genki Sudo 73,787 Sayaka Ichii 50,415.298 ... Yukihisa Fujita 28,919.215 | Kanae Yamamoto 594,288.947 Hiroshi Yamamoto 471,759.555 Kaneshige Wakamatsu 342,356 Yoshihiro Kawano 328,659 Hideki Niizuma 281,832 Daisaku Hiraki 183,869 Hiroaki Shiota 15,178 Jirō Takahashi 7,577 | Muneo Suzuki 220,742.675 Kunihiko Muroi 87,188 Satoshi Umemura 58,269.522 Takumi Shibata 53,938 Hirofumi Yanagase 53,086 Takeshi Fujimaki 51,619.511 Kazuyuki Yamaguchi 42,231.776 | Akira Koike 158,621 Yoshiki Yamashita 48,932.480 Satoshi Inoue 42,982.440 Tomoko Kami 34,696.013 ... Sōhei Nihi 33,360 | Mami Tamura 260,324 Tetsuji Isozaki 258,507 Yoshifumi Hamano 256,928.785 Toshio Ishigami 192,586.679 ... Kusuo Ōshima 87,740 | Yasuhiko Funago (protected) Eiko Kimura (protected) Toru Hasuike 20,557.200 Onishi Tsuneki 19,842 ... Tarō Yamamoto 991,756.597 | Tadatomo Yoshida 149,287 Mio Nakamura 98,681.520 Yano Atsuko 21,391 Yuko Otsubaki 15,445 | Takashi Tachibana 130,233.367 Satoshi Hamada 9,308.959 Shin Okamoto 4,269 Kumamaru Eiji 2,850 | Hidemitsu Sano 63,611 | Ryōko Shaku 30,356 Yukihisa Oikawa 8,290.772 |

### 2016

National block results in the 2016 House of Councillors election :
| Liberal Democratic Party: 20,114,788 votes (35.9%), 19 seats | Democratic Party: 11,751,015 votes (21.0%), 11 seats | Kōmeitō: 7,572,960 votes (13.5%), 7 seats | Japanese Communist Party: 6,016,195 votes (10.7%), 4 seats | Osaka Ishin no Kai: 5,153,584 votes (13.0%), 4 seats | Social Democratic Party: 1,536,239 votes (3.4%), 1 seat | People's Life Party: 1,067,301 votes (4.7%), 1 seat | Party for Japanese Kokoro: 734,024 votes (1.3%), 0 seats | No Party to Support: 647,071 votes (1.1%), 0 seats | New Renaissance Party: 580,653 votes (1.0%), 0 seats | Angry Voice of the Citizens: 466,706 votes (0.8%), 0 seats | Happiness Realization Party: 366,815 votes (0.6%), 0 seats |
| 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 Isao Takeuchi 87,578 ... Tsuneo Horiuchi 84,597 | 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 Kaoru Tashiro 113,571 ... Naoki Tanaka 86,596 Takumi Shibata 73,166 ... Takeshi Maeda 59,853 Jirō Ono 46,213 Masami Nishimura 38,899 | 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 Shinji Takeuchi 7,489 | Tadayoshi Ichida 77,348 Tomoko Tamura 49,113 Mikishi Daimon 33,078 Tomo Iwabuchi 31,099 Ryōsuke Takeda 23,938 Tomoko Okuda 23,680 | Toranosuke Katayama 194,902 Yoshimi Watanabe 143,343 Mitsuko Ishii 68,147 Akira Ishii 50,073 Tsuyoshi Gibu 43,679 | Mizuho Fukushima 254,956 Tadatomo Yoshida 153,197 | Ai Aoki 109,050 Yumiko Himei 16,116 | Akira Nakayama 77,884 Shingo Nishimura 42,296 | Hidemitsu Sano 31,334 Akiko Hondō 18,035 | Tarō Yamada 291,188 Hiroyuki Arai 63,757 | Kobayashi Takashi 78,272 Yoriko Madoka 20,496 | Hiroko Nanami 31,717 Ryōko Shaku 28,579 |

### 2013

National block results in the 2013 House of Councillors election :
| Liberal Democratic Party: 18,460,404 votes (34.7%), 18 seats | Kōmeitō: 7,568,080 votes (14.2%), 7 seats | Democratic Party of Japan: 7,268,653 votes (13.4%), 7 seats | Japan Restoration Party: 6,355,299 votes (11.9%), 6 seat | Japanese Communist Party: 5,154,055 votes (9.7%), 5 seats | Your Party: 4,755,160 votes (8.9%), 4 seats | Social Democratic Party: 1,255,235 votes (2.4%), 1 seat | People's Life Party: 492,040 votes (4.7%), 0 seat | New Party Daichi: 273,356 votes (1.3%), 0 seats | Greens Japan: 246,020 votes (1.1%), 0 seats | Green Wind: 218,685 votes (1.0%), 0 seats | Happiness Realization Party: 109,342 votes (0.4%), 0 seats |
| 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 Masaru Wakasa 76,829 | 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 Nobuo Kawashima 7,737 | 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 Takanori Kawai 138,830 Hajime Ishii 123,355 ... Toshiharu Todoroki 103,996 Marutei Tsurunen 82,858 ... Yoshikazu Tarui 13,178 | Antonio Inoki 356,605 Kyōko Nakayama 306,341 Mitsuo Gima 40,484 Takeshi Fujimaki 33,237 Masashi Nakano 32,926 Kunihiko Muroi 32,107 Hirokazu Tsuchida 28,616 | Akira Koike 134,325 Yoshiki Yamashita 129,149 Tomoko Kami 68,729 Satoshi Inoue 50,874 Kōhei Nihi 39,768 Yūko Yamamoto 36,580 | Ryūhei Kawada 117,389 Kazuyuki Yamaguchi 75,000 Michitarō Watanabe 50,253 Yoshiyuki Inoue 47,756 Jun'ichi Kawai 39,425 | Seiji Mataichi 156,1555 Hiroji Yamashiro 112,641 | Kenji Yamaoka 56,372 Yukiko Miyake 38,766 | Muneo Suzuki 62,902 Kenkō Matsuki 38,721 | Yohei Miyake 178,970 Nao Suguro 9,109 | Kuniko Tanioka 51,367 Masahiko Yamada 44,231 | Yanai Hisshou 17,010 TOKMA 16,797 |