Niigata 5th district (新潟[県第]5区 Niigata[-ken dai-]go-ku) is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in southern Niigata Prefecture including the region known as Jōetsu. As of September 2012, 282,904 voters were registered in Niigata 5th district, giving its voters above average vote weight.[1]
Before the electoral reform, the area had formed part of the five-member Niigata 3rd district of former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president-prime minister, faction leader and "shadow shōgun" Kakuei Tanaka and his daughter Makiko Tanaka who became science and technology minister in the Murayama Cabinet in 1994. The second ranking representative from the 3rd district in the last pre-reform election of 1993 had been former Takeshita faction Liberal Democrat Yukio Hoshino who joined the defecting Japan Renewal Party in the 1993 no-confidence vote against LDP president-prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa. After the reform, Hoshino contested the new single-member 5th district against Tanaka for the New Frontier Party, but lost to Tanaka. Tanaka became foreign minister in the Koizumi Cabinet, but was dismissed in 2002; in the same year, a scandal over (state-funded) salaries for Representative's secretaries who had allegedly been employed (and already paid) by Echigo Kōtsū ("Echigo Transportation", a Tanaka family company) led eventually to her resignation.[2][3][4][5][6] Hoshino won the resulting by-election as an independent and joined the LDP afterwards. But in the 2003 general election, Tanaka took the 5th district back by a clear margin. She joined the Democratic Party (DPJ) parliamentary group in 2003 and the Democratic Party before the 2009 House of Representatives election. Tanaka was appointed a minister for the third time in the DPJ-led Noda Cabinet in 2012.
In the 2012 House of Representatives election, Tanaka lost the district to LDP candidate Tadayoshi Nagashima. This was 65 years after her father was first elected to represent Niigata in the lower house. Only her husband Naoki (maiden name: Suzuki) continued the Tanaka tradition in the Diet as member of the House of Councillors from Niigata until 2016.
In 2017, Nagashima died in office. The next representative was former governor of Niigata Prefecture Hirohiko Izumida. In 2021, Izumida was challenged by two independent candidates, Tamio Mori, former mayor of Nagaoka, and another former Niigata Governor Ryuichi Yoneyama. Yoneyama, who was endorsed by the CDP and other opposition parties, won the seat.[7] After the elections, Izumida, who managed to get a seat in the PR block, claimed he was asked to pay kickback money if he wanted to win.[8]
Area
After redistricting in 2022, the boundaries changed significantly. The district includes all of the abolished Niigata 6th district.
List of representatives
| Representative
|
Party
|
Dates
|
Notes
|
| Makiko Tanaka
|
|
LDP
|
1996 – 2002
|
LDP membership suspended in June 2002, resigned in August 2002
|
| Vacant (August–October 2002)
|
| Yukio Hoshino
|
|
Indep.
|
2002 – 2003
|
Re-joined the LDP in 2002
|
| Makiko Tanaka
|
|
Indep.
|
2003 – 2009
|
Joined the DPJ parliamentary group in 2003, the DPJ in 2009
|
|
DPJ
|
2009 – 2012
|
Not re-elected in the Hokuriku-Shin'etsu block
|
| Tadayoshi Nagashima
|
|
LDP
|
2012 – 2017
|
Died August 18, 2017
|
| Hirohiko Izumida
|
|
LDP
|
2017 – 2021
|
|
| Ryuichi Yoneyama
|
|
Indep.
|
2021 – 2024
|
Moved to the 4th district
|
| Mamoru Umetani
|
|
CDP
|
2024 –
|
Moved from the 6th district
|
Election results
References
- ^ Ministry of general affairs: 平成24年9月2日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数
- ^ The Japan Times, April 8, 2002: Both camps pursue Tanaka over salaries
- ^ The Japan Times, August 10, 2002: Former Foreign Minister Tanaka tenders Diet resignation. Questions remain over role in salary scandal
- ^ The Japan Times, August 11, 2002: Tanaka bombshell leaves LDP in by-election crisis
- ^ The Japan Times, October 3, 2003: Tanaka staging return to politics
- ^ The Japan Times, October 23, 2003: Tanaka submits resignation to LDP; party demurs
- ^ "Newcomer Ryuichi Yoneyama scores Japan election victory over LDP ex-lawmaker in Niigata". Mainichi Shimbun. 31 October 2021.
- ^ "Japan lawmaker claims he was asked to pay kickback money during recent general election". Mainichi Shimbun. 30 November 2021.
- ^ 日本放送協会. "衆議院選挙2024 埼玉(川越・越谷など)開票速報・選挙結果 NHK". www.nhk.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-03-31.
- ^ 【衆院選2021】開票結果 小選挙区 新潟. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 18 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ^ 総選挙2017>開票結果 小選挙区 新潟. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-08-25.
- ^ 総選挙2014>開票結果 小選挙区 新潟. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-08-25.
- ^ 総選挙2012>開票結果 小選挙区 新潟. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- ^ 第45回衆議院議員選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ 第44回衆議院議員選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ 第43回衆議院議員選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ 第42回衆議院議員補欠選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ 第42回衆議院議員選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ 第41回衆議院議員選挙 - 新潟5区. go2senkyo.com ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). Heartbeats Corp. Retrieved 2012-11-06.