Iwate at-large district

The Iwate at-large district (岩手県選挙区, Iwate-ken senkyo-ku) is a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. It consists of Iwate Prefecture and elects two Councilors, one every three years, making it one of the decisive single-member districts. Ichirō Ozawa came from the prefecture, and as a result, it is much more markedly competitive than many other rural, 2 seat districts. In fact, it was represented by two opposition members until 2022, when Hirose defeated CDP Councilor Eiji Kidoguchi to return it to split control. Kidoguchi defeated other opposition parties to win it back in a 2024 by-election following Hirose's resignation. It is also one of the districts where the opposition have been most consolidated; the last time multiple major party opposition members ran was 2013. The last LDP member to represent the district before Hirose was Motoo Shiina, who left the party in 1998.

Iwate at-large district
岩手県選挙区
Parliamentary constituency for the House of Councillors
Prefecture	Iwate
Electorate	1,017,716 (as of September 2022)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1947
Seats	2
Councillors	Class of 2019:   Takanori Yokozawa (CDP) Class of 2022:   Eiji Kidoguchi (CDP)

Elected Councillors

Class of 1947 (1947: 6-year term)	Election year	Class of 1950 (1947: 3-year term)
Katsuji Debuchi † 1947 (Ind.)[party 1]	1947[2]	Tadashi Chida (Ind.)
Matsusuke Kawamura (JLP)	1947 by-el.[3]
	1950[4]
Matsusuke Kawamura (Yoshida faction LP)	1953[5]
	1956[6]
Teiji Yamura † 1968 (LDP)	1959[7]
	1962[8]	Kankichi Watanabe (JSP)
	1965[9]
Michiyuki Isurugi † 1987 (LDP)	1968 by-el.[10]
	1968[11]	Sakari Masuda (LDP)
	1971[12]
	1974[13]
	1977[14]
	1980[15]
	1983[16]
	1986[17]	Kiyotaka Takahashi (LDP)
Jin'ichi Ogawa (JSP)	1987 by-el.[18]
	1989[19]
	1992[20]	Motoo Shiina (LDP)[party 2]
Yoshinori Takahashi (NFP)	1995[21]
	1998[22]	Motoo Shiina (Ind.)[party 3]
Tatsuo Hirano (LP)	2001[23]
	2004[24]	Ryō Shuhama (DPJ)[party 4]
Tatsuo Hirano (DPJ)[party 5]	2007[25]
	2010[26]
Tatsuo Hirano (Ind.)	2013[27]
	2016[28]	Eiji Kidoguchi (Ind.)
Takanori Yokosawa (Ind.)[party 6]	2019[29]
	2022[30]	Megumi Hirose # (LDP)
	2024 by-el.[31]	Eiji Kidoguchi (CDP)

Party affiliations as of election day; #: resigned; †: died in office.

1. joined Ryokufūkai
2. left LDP in 1993, later temporarily "Liberal Assembly"
3. joined "Independent Assembly"
4. joined LF→TPJ→PLP in 2012
5. expelled in 2013
6. joined CDP in 2020

Recent election results

2024 by-election^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	CDP	Eiji Kidoguchi	334,914	65.9
	Independent	Ayumi Tanaka	109,978	21.7
	Sanseitō	Toshiya Yoshida	48,214	9.5	4.7
	Minor party	Hironori Matsushima	9,015	1.8
	Minor party	Yutaka Odata	5,810	1.1
Registered electors			1,000,754
Turnout				55.54	0.16
	CDP gain from LDP

2022^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	LDP	Megumi Hirose	264,422	47.2	0.9
	Independent	Eiji Kidoguchi	242,174	43.2	5.7
	Sanseitō	Akishi Shiratori	26,960	4.8	New
	Independent	Hiroko Ogoshi	13,637	2.4
	Anti-NHK	Takashi Matsuda	13,352	2.4	2.3
Registered electors			1,034,059
Turnout				55,38%	1.17

2019^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Takanori Yokosawa	288,239	48.97	−
	LDP	Tatsuo Hirano	272,733	46.33	6.63
	Anti-NHK	Shuuichi Kajitani	27,658	4.7
Registered electors			1,066,492
Turnout				56,55%	1.23

2016^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Eiji Kidoguchi (Endorsed by Democratic, Communist, Social Democratic and People's Life parties)	328,555	53.3
	LDP	Shinichi Tanaka (Endorsed by Komeito)	252,767	41.0
	Happiness Realization	Mikiko Ishikawa	34,593	5.6

2013^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tatsuo Hirano (Incumbent)	243,368	39.7
	LDP	Shinichi Tanaka (Endorsed by Komeito)	161,499	26.4
	People's Life	Toshinobu Sekine Endorsed by Green Wind	91,048	14.9
	Democratic	Harumi Yoshida	62,047	10.1
	JCP	Yukio Kikuchi	46,529	7.6
	Happiness Realization	Keiko Takahashi	8,322	1.4

2010^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ryō Shuhama (Incumbent)	351,545	54.2
	LDP	Yukifumi Takahashi	197,137	30.4
	Social Democratic	Masahiro Iwasa	54,989	8.5
	JCP	Sadakiyo Segawa	44,771	6.9
Turnout			669,498	60.36

2007^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Tatsuo Hirano (Incumbent) (Supported by People's New Party)	437,814	62.6
	LDP	Shōichirō Chida (Supported by Kōmeitō)	176,096	25.2
	Social Democratic	Masahiro Iwasa	47,425	6.8
	JCP	Akio Wakayama	38,089	5.4
Turnout			714,559	63.49