The Shikoku proportional representation block (Hirei [daihyō] Shikoku burokku (比例[代表]四国ブロック)) is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It consists of Shikoku region covering Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi Prefectures. Following the introduction of proportional voting it elected seven representatives in the 1996 general election. When the total number of PR seats was reduced from 200 to 180, the Shikoku PR block shrunk to six seats.
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Summary of results
With a district magnitude of six, Shikoku is the smallest PR block. The vote share necessary to obtain a seat is usually well above ten percent. In three elections after the consolidation of the LDP-DPJ-party system by the merger of the LP into the DPJ in 2001, only the top three parties were able to win seats in Shikoku. In 2012, the LDP recorded its worst result since the introduction of proportional party list voting and the DPJ vote share crashed by more than 25 percentage points, the newly created Japan Restoration Party managed to gain two proportional seats in Shikoku.
Party names are abbreviated as follows: (Romanisation of Japanese name in brackets):
List of Representatives
Note: Party affiliations as of election day.
2014 general election
Following on from the LDP landslide win at the 2012 general election, in which the party won 12 of the 13 electorates in Shikoku plus two of the six seats from the PR list, the LDP maintained their dominant position in the region by retaining all 10 of their electorates (two electorates were abolished to address voter malapportionment) and gaining a seat on the PR list from the dissolved Japan Restoration Party (JRP).
The JRP, which won 2 seats with 21.3% of the vote at the 2012 general election, had split in May 2014, with former members subsequently forming the Japan Innovation Party and Party for Future Generations. Of the two JRP members previously elected from the Shikoku PR list, Fumiki Sakurauchi joined the Party for Future Generations and contested the PR block in 2014, while Arata Nishioka contested the Ehime 2nd district as an independent; both candidates lost.
Former Ehime Prefectural Assembly member Hiroyuki Yokoyama was able to gain a seat for the Japan Innovation Party, while the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Komeito representatives were able to retain their seats.
2012 general election
The ruling DPJ lost two of the three seats held in the district, as their vote was reduced to 16.0%, down from 43.2% in the 2009 election. This matched the heavy losses the party suffered nationwide as the LDP led by Shinzo Abe returned to power. The newly-formed Japan Restoration Party gained the two seats lost by the DPJ. In the 13 single-member electorates, the LDP gained 4 seats, with Yuichiro Tamaki being the only DPJ member to retain his seat in the Kagawa 2nd district.