| Chiba 4th District | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary constituency for the Japanese House of Representatives | |
 Numbered map of Chiba Prefecture single-member districts | |
| Prefecture | Chiba |
| Proportional District | Minami-Kantō |
| Electorate | 463,083 (2021) |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1994 |
| Seats | One |
| Party | Constitutional Democratic Party |
| Representative | Yoshihiko Noda |
| Created from | Chiba's 1st "medium-sized" district |
| Municipalities | Parts of Funabashi and Ichikawa cities |
Chiba 4th district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, located in Western Chiba. As of 2016, 459,431 eligible voters were registered in the district.[1] In the 2009 and 2012 general elections, the district had the lowest electoral weight throughout Japan at more than two times as many voters as the district with the highest electoral weight, Kōchi-3rd.[2]
Before the electoral reform of 1994, Funabashi was part of Chiba 1st district where four Representatives had been elected by single non-transferable vote.
Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has represented Chiba 4th district since 2000 after initially losing it as a candidate for the New Frontier Party by 105 votes to Liberal Democrat Shōichi Tanaka in 1996. Amid the LDP landslide in 2012 that returned them into power, then-PM Noda became a rare DPJ politician who actually increased his share of vote in his constituency.
Before resdistricting, the electoral district covered the city of Funabashi. After 2022 it comprises a part of Funabashi and a part of Ichikawa. Areas of Funabashi that had previously belonged to the 4th were transferred to the newly established Chiba 14th district.
- ^ Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC): [1] (in Japanese)
- ^ 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)