Hokkaido at-large district

The Hokkaido at-large district is a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It consists of the prefecture (dō) of Hokkai[dō] and is represented by six Councillors electing three at a time every three years by single non-transferable vote for six-year terms. In the election period from 2025 to 2028, Hokkaido's Councillors are (party affiliation as of January 2026): Gaku Hasegawa (LDP; term ends in 2028), Eri Tokunaga (CDP; term ends in 2028), Toshimitsu Funahashi (LDP; term ends in 2028), Harumi Takahashi (LDP; term ends in 2031), Kenji Katsube (CDP; term ends in 2031) and Tsuyohito Iwamoto (LDP; term ends in 2031).

After the House of Councillors had replaced the House of Peers according to the constitution of 1947, Hokkaido was represented by eight Councillors. In the early years of the 1955 System, all four seats went to the two major postwar parties, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Socialist Party (JSP). But smaller parties such as the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) had a chance to pick up seats in Hokkaido as the vote share sufficient to gain a seat was often significantly below 20 percent. The high number of candidates increased the risk of vote splitting for the major parties: In 1974, two incumbent LDP candidates and conservative independent Tatsuo Takahashi ranked 5th, 6th and 7th leaving all four seats to the center-left to left opposition parties Kōmeitō, JSP and JCP.

In a major reapportionment in 1994 the number of Councillors from Hokkaido was halved to four. It became effective in the 1995 and 1998 elections. During the period as two-member district, Hokkaidō usually split seats evenly between opposition and ruling parties like most two-member districts – although the Democrats unsuccessfully aimed for both seats in the 2004, 2007 and 2010 elections. In another 2015 reapportionment, effective in the two classes from the 2016 and 2019 elections, Hokkaidō's representation in the upper house was raised to six.

Elected Councillors Class of 1947 Election year Class of 1950 #1(1947: #1, 6-year term)(1950: #5, 3-year term) #2(1947: #2, 6-year term) #3(1947: #3, 6-year term) #4(1947: #4, 6-year term) #1(1947: #5, 3-year term) #2(1947: #6, 3-year term) #3(1947: #7, 3-year term) #4(1947: #8, 3-year term) Junsuke Itaya †(JLP) Sueji Hori(Indep.) Makoto Chiba(JSP) Misao Kaga(Indep.)joined Ryokufūkai 1947 Katsuzō Wakaki(Indep.)joined JSP Gengo Kinoshita(JSP) Keiki Machimura(Indep.)joined Ryokufūkai Yonesaburō Kobayashi(Indep.) joined JLP Eiji Arima(DP) 1950incl. by-election Gengo Kinoshita(JSP) Takashi Azuma(Farmers Cooperative Party) Katsuzō Wakaki(JSP) Sadayoshi Matsuura(Farmers Cooperative Party) Makoto Chiba(JSP, left) Katsutarō Kita(Indep.)joined Ryokufūkai Sueji Hori(Yoshida LP) Eiji Arima(Progressive) 1953 1956 Hidetoshi Tomabechi(LDP) Tadashi Ōya(JSP) Takashi Azuma(JSP) Shinichi Nishida(LDP) Isao Yoneta(JSP) Sueji Hori(LDP) Ihei Ikawa(LDP) Makoto Chiba(JSP) 1959 1962 Tadashi Ōya(JSP) Tokuichi Kobayashi(Indep.)joined LDP Chūzaburō Yoshida(JSP) Seiichi Kawamura(JSP) Ihei Ikawa(LDP) Yūnosuke Takahashi(LDP) Genshō Takeda(JSP) 1965 1968 Yōichi Kawaguchi(LDP) Shinichi Nishida(LDP) Chūzaburō Yoshida(JSP) Yūnosuke Takahashi(LDP) Seiichi Kawamura(JSP) Genshō Takeda(JSP) Masaichi Iwamoto(LDP) 1971 1974 Sadako Ogasawara(JCP) Chūzaburō Yoshida(JSP) Takakatsu Tsushima(JSP) Takehiko Aizawa(Kōmeitō) Shūji Kita(LDP) Keiichi Nakamura(LDP) Kaneyasu Marutani(JSP) Seiichi Kawamura(JSP) 1977 1980 Masaaki Takagi(LDP) Masamitsu Iwamoto(LDP) Sadako Ogasawara(JCP) Hisamitsu Sugano(JSP) Masami Kudō(LDP) 1983 1986 Takakatsu Tsushima(JSP) Masaaki Takagi(LDP) Yasuko Takemura(Indep.)JSP support Shūji Kita(LDP) Yūko Takasaki(JCP) 1989 1992 Hisashi Kazama(Kōmeitō) Noriyuki Nakao(Indep.)JSP support Naoki Minezaki(JSP) Masaaki Takagi(LDP) Hisamitsu Sugano(JSP) Katsuya Ogawa(NFP) – 1995 1998 Naoki Minezaki(DPJ) Yoshio Nakagawa(LDP) – Chūichi Date(LDP) Katsuya Ogawa(DPJ) 2001 2004 Yoshio Nakagawa(LDP) Naoki Minezaki(DPJ) Katsuya Ogawa(DPJ) Chūichi Date(LDP) 2007 2010 Gaku Hasegawa(LDP) Eri Tokunaga(DPJ) Chūichi Date(LDP) Katsuya Ogawa(DPJ) 2013 2016Yomiuri Online, House of Councillors election 2016: Results in Hokkaidō Eri Tokunaga(DP) Yoshio Hachiro(DP) – Harumi Takahashi(LDP) Kenji Katsube(CDP) Tsuyohito Iwamoto(LDP) – 2019NHK, House of Councillors election 2019: Results in Hokkaidō 2022NHK, House of Councillors election 2022: Results in Hokkaidō Eri Tokunaga(CDP) Toshimitsu Funahashi(LDP) 2025NHK, House of Councillors election 2025: Results in Hokkaidō

Recent election results Notes: Decimals from anbunhyō ("fractional proportional votes" from ambiguous votes) omitted; note that the rounded whole numbers may still include fractions of numbers >2 of ambiguous votes and do not necessarily represent "whole" voters Change in vote is between each election not between last time candidate contested.

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Hokkaido at-large district

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