2019 Okinawa 3rd district by-election

A by-election for the Okinawa 3rd district in the Japanese House of Representatives was held on 21 April 2019.^[1]

2019 Okinawa 3rd district by-election

← 2017 21 April 2019 Next →
Okinawa 3rd district
Turnout	43.99%
Ind. Candidate Tomohiro Yara Aiko Shimajiri Party Independent LDP Popular vote 77,156 59,428 Percentage 56.49% 43.51%
Representative before election Denny Tamaki Liberal Elected Representative Tomohiro Yara[note 1] Independent

Background

The seat became vacant following the candidacy and election of its representative, Denny Tamaki to the governorship of Okinawa Prefecture. Tamaki was one of the two representatives from the Liberal Party in the House. He had served the district almost continuously since 2009 and defended the seat by a 17.56% margin in the 2017 election. The by-election was held on the same day with the second round of the unified local elections and another House by-election in the Osaka 12th district. The Okinawa-wide referendum in February influenced the by-election campaign.

The candidate supported by Tamaki and the All-Okinawa coalition, Tomohiro Yara won the by-election against LDP candidate and former minister Aiko Shimajiri.^[2]

Candidates

1. Aiko Shimajiri (LDP), former member of the House of Councillors and cabinet minister.^[3]
2. Tomohiro Yara (LP), freelance journalist (endorsed by the All-Okinawa coalition).^[3]

Results

House of Representatives: 2019 Okinawa 3rd district by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tomohiro Yara	77,156	56.5
	LDP	Aiko Shimajiri	59,428	43.5
Total votes			136,584
Turnout				43.99	−10.06
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing

Footnotes

1. Yara joined the Liberal caucus soon after he was elected.