Iwate 1st district

Iwate 1st District
Parliamentary constituency
for the Japanese House of Representatives
Numbered map of Iwate Prefecture single-member districts
PrefectureIwate
Proportional DistrictTohoku
Electorate278,860
Current constituency
Created1994
SeatsOne
PartyCDP
RepresentativeTakeshi Shina (2007–)
Created fromIwate's 1st "medium-sized" district
MunicipalitiesThe city of Morioka, town of Shiwa and town of Yahaba

Iwate 1st district (岩手[県第]1区, Iwate[-ken dai-]ikku) is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It is located in central Iwate and consists of the prefectural capital Morioka city and the two remaining towns in Shiwa district.[1] Before 2017, it covered of the majority of the prefectural capital Morioka (the whole city without the former village of Tamayama) and Shiwa district. As of 2012, 278,860 eligible voters were registered in the district.[2]

Before the electoral reform of 1994, the area had been part of the multi-member Iwate 1st district that elected four Representatives by single non-transferable vote.

Iwate is the home of Ichirō Ozawa and like three of the prefecture's four post-reform districts, the 1st district had been represented by his parties from its creation to 2012: the New Frontier Party, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party. In 2012, Ozawa and his followers split from the Democratic Party: 1st district representative Shina stayed with the Democrats, Ozawa's Tomorrow Party of Japan nominated Yōko Tasso, the wife of former representative and current Iwate governor Takuya Tasso; but Shina defended the district against Tasso and Liberal Democratic former prefectural assembly member Hinako Takahashi who won a proportional block seat.

  1. ^ MIC: 2017 changes to House of Representatives electoral districts, Map and table of changes in Iwate (in Japanese)
  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)