Tochigi 3rd district (栃木 ��第区 ''Tochigi ken dai-an-ku'') is a single-member electoral district for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, the lower house of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Located in north-eastern Tochigi, it covers the cities of

Ōtawara 270px, View from the ruins of Ōtawara Castle is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 72,189 in 30,136 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

, Yaita,

Nasushiobara 270px, Shiobara Onsen is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,794 in 48,437 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nasushioba ...

Nasukarasuyama Ryumon Falls is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 25,783 in 10,509 households, and a population density of 150 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nasukarasuyama is l ...

and the towns of Nasu and Nakagawa in Nasu District. As of September 2011, 247,284 eligible voters were registered in Tochigi 3rd district, giving it well above average (347,878 voters per district) vote weight. From the creation of the district until 2014, the representative from Tochigi 3rd district was former

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

Yoshimi Watanabe is a Japanese politician. He was formerly a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party, after which he became a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai until 2019 when he then became an independent politician. He was a memb ...

who founded

Your Party is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its d ...

(''Minna no Tō'', lit. "Everyone's Party") in 2009. In that year, the established parties did not even contest the seat. The only challenger the Democratic Party ever nominated has been Takashi Kobayashi in 2005. In the first three elections, only the left-wing parties contested the seat. In 2014 Watanabe was involved in a scandal over undisclosed loans and lost the next elections to the LDP candidate Kazuo Yana. Before the electoral reform, the area had been part of the five-member 1st district. Representatives from the 1st district had included Watanabe's father Michio who died in 1995.

List of representatives

Election results

References

{{coord missing, Tochigi Prefecture Tochigi Prefecture Districts of the House of Representatives (Japan)