Gunma 1st district

Gunma 1st District (群馬県第1区, Gunma-ken dai-ichi-ku) is a single-member constituency of the Japanese House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet. It is located in Gunma Prefecture and consists of the cities of Maebashi and Numata and the district of Tone as well as parts of the cities of Kiryū, Shibukawa and Midori. As of 2012, 387,120 eligible voters were registered in the district.^[2]

Until 2009, Gunma had been a traditional "conservative kingdom" (hoshu-ōkoku), the Japanese equivalent of a "red state" in the United States. Like all single member districts in Gunma, the 1st district had been represented by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1997. The LDP used the Costa Rica method (kosutarika-hōshiki) with Koji Omi and Genichiro Sata as alternating candidates for the district. In the election of 2009, Omi was the LDP's candidate; incumbent Sata only ran in the Northern Kantō proportional representation block. Both Omi and Sata had represented the pre-reform three-member 1st district of Gunma. The Democratic Party's candidate in 2009 was Takeshi Miyazaki, a former journalist for the Jōmō Shimbun.^[3] In 2012, Sata regained the district for the LDP. In 2013, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho accused Sata of inappropriate sexual conduct.^[4] In the 2014 elections, Sata lost considerable support and did not receive endorsement from Komeito, but still managed to hold onto his seat.

Between 2017 and 2021, the representative was Asako Omi, the daughter of previous representative Kōji Omi. In 2021, the district was won by Yasutaka Nakasone, son of former Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and grandson of Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was Prime Minister from 1982 to 1987.

Areas covered

Current district

As of 24 January 2023, the areas covered by this district are as follows:

• Maebashi
• Numata
• Tone District

As part of the 2022 redistricting, all cities in Gunma Prefecture were consolidated into single districts, with the exception of Takasaki. As a result of this, the district lost the parts it had gained of the cities of Kiryū, Shibukawa and Midori during the 2013 redistricting

Areas 2013–2022

From the first redistricting in 2013, and the second redistricting in 2022, the areas covered by this district were as follows:^[5][6]

• Maebashi
• Kiryū (former villages of Niisato and Kurohone)
• Numata
• Shibukawa (former villages of Akagi and Kitatachibana)
• Midori (former village of Azuma)
• Tone District

As part of the 2013 redistricting, the district gained area in the cities of Kiryū, Shibukawa and Midori. Seta District was merged into the city of Maebashi in 2009, though the area is still covered under the boundaries of Maebashi.

Areas from before 2013

From the creation of the district in 1994, until the first redistricting in 2013, the areas covered by this district were as follows:^[7]

• Maebashi
• Numata
• Seta District
• Tone District

Elected representatives

References

1. ^ "総務省 - 令和4年9月1日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数" [Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications - Number of registered voters as of September 1, 2020] (in Japanese). Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
2. ^ Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC): 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 (in Japanese)
3. ^ "ja:衆議院 >第45回衆議院議員選挙 >群馬県 >群馬1区" (in Japanese). ザ･選挙. JANJAN. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
4. ^ "LDP lawmaker Genichiro Sata to resign over sex scandal". Tokyo Reporter. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
5. ^ "衆議院小選挙区選出議員の選挙区間における人口較差を緊急に是正するための公職選挙法及び衆議院議員選挙区画定審議会設置法の一部を改正する法律の一部を改正する法律". www.shugiin.go.jp. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
6. ^ "ja:群馬県" [Gunma Prefecture] (in Japanese). Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
7. ^ "法律第百四号（平六・一一・二五）". www.shugiin.go.jp. Retrieved 2023-01-24.