Iwate At-large district is a constituency of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...

. It consists of Iwate Prefecture

Iwate Prefecture

is the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka. Iwate has the lowest population density of any prefecture outside Hokkaido...

 and elects two Councillors, one every three years, making it one of the decisive single-member districts. In the initial election of 1947 it used – like all districts – single non-transferable vote

Single non-transferable vote

The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...

 to select both its Councillors in one election.

The Councillors currently representing Iwate are:

• Tatsuo Hirano
  Tatsuo Hirano
  is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Kitakami, Iwate and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1977, attending the Iowa State University in the United...
  
   (DPJ, Ozawa group; term ends in 2013) and
• Ryō Shuhama
  Ryo Shuhama
  is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Takizawa, Iwate and graduate of Hokkaido University, he worked at the government of Iwate Prefecture from 1973 until 2003. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the...
  
   (DPJ, Ozawa group; term ends in 2016).

Predominantly rural Iwate is home and stronghold of reformist-conservative former Liberal Democratic Party

Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)

The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election...

 (LDP) secretary-general Ichirō Ozawa

Ichiro Ozawa

is a Japanese politician. Formerly a chief secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party , he later defected from the LDP. He was the president of Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan , from 2006 until May 2009, when he resigned over a fund scandal, and secretary general of the...

, i.e. the LDP, the Renewal Party, the New Frontier Party

New Frontier Party

The was a Japanese political party that existed during the mid-1990s. As a merger of several small parties, the party was ideologically diverse, with its membership ranging from moderate socialists to neoliberals and conservatives...

, the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (Japan, 1998)

The was a Japanese liberal party formed in 1998 by Ichirō Ozawa and Hirohisa Fujii. It is now defunct, having joined the Democratic Party of Japan in 2003....

 and finally the Democratic Party.

Elected Councillors

class of 1947/1953/... (1947: #1, 6-year term)	election year	class of 1950/1956/... (1947: #2, 3-year term)
Katsuji Debuchi † 1947 (Indep.)joined Ryokufūkai	1947 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1947 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 20 April 1947. The Japan Socialist Party won the most seats, although independents emerged as the largest group in the House...	Tadashi Chida (Indep.)
Matsusuke Kawamura (JLP Liberal Party (1945) was a right-wing party in Japan, founded on November 9, 1945, mainly by former members of Seiyukai Party. Its first leader was Ichirō Hatoyama. In 1946-1947 and 1948-1954, the next party leader Shigeru Yoshida was the Prime Minister.... )	1947 by-el.
	1950 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1950 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 4 June 1950, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Party won the most seats.-Results:...
Matsusuke Kawamura (Yoshida faction LP Liberal Party (1945) was a right-wing party in Japan, founded on November 9, 1945, mainly by former members of Seiyukai Party. Its first leader was Ichirō Hatoyama. In 1946-1947 and 1948-1954, the next party leader Shigeru Yoshida was the Prime Minister.... )	1953 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1953 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 24 April 1953, electing half the seats in the House. The Yoshida faction of the Liberal Party won the most seats.-Results:...
	1956 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1956 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on July 8, 1956 electing half the seats in the House plus two vacant seats in the other half. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats, but failed to win a majority...
Teiji Yamura † 1968 (LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election... )	1959 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1959 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 2 June 1959, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...
	1962 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1962 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 1 July 1962, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...	Kankichi Watanabe (JSP)
	1965 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1965 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 4 July 1965, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...
Michiyuki Isurugi † 1987 (LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election... )	1968 by-el.
	1968 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1968 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 7 July 1968, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...	Sakari Masuda (LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election... )
	1971 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1971 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 27 June 1971, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...
	1974 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1974 House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 7 July 1974, electing half the seats in the House. The Liberal Democratic Party won the most seats.-Results:...
	1977 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1977 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1977.Note that only half of this House of Councillors was up for election. The results show the whole legislature following the elections.-Results:...
	1980 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1980 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1980. On 16 May 1980, the Japan Socialist Party brought no-confidence motion before the Diet relating to corruption issues, proposing more defense spending and rises in public utility charges as reasons for the House of...
	1983 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1983 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan on 26 June 1983. The House of Councillors elections were won by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.-Results:- References :* About Japan Series , Changing Japanese Politics, No...
	1986 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1986 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1986.Note that only half of this House of Councillors was up for election. The results show the whole legislature following the elections.- References :...	Kiyotaka Takahashi (LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election... )
Jin'ichi Ogawa (JSP)	1987 by-el.
	1989 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1989 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in July 1989. The election result was a setback for ruling Liberal Democratic Party because of the Recruit scandal, 3% of consumption tax issue and involvement of Prime Minister Uno Sousuke in a sex scandal. The Social Democratic...
	1992 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1992 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1992.Note that only half of this House of Councillors was up for election. The results show the whole legislature following the elections.-Results:...	Motoo Shiina (LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election... )left LDP in 1993, later temporarily "Liberal Assembly"
Yoshinori Takahashi (NFP New Frontier Party The was a Japanese political party that existed during the mid-1990s. As a merger of several small parties, the party was ideologically diverse, with its membership ranging from moderate socialists to neoliberals and conservatives... )	1995 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1995 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1995.Note that because of the circumstances around the creation of the New Frontier Party, it held seats in the House of Councillors without having won them in the prior election. Many of them were former members of the...
	1998 Japanese House of Councillors election, 1998 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan in 1998.Note that because of the dissolution of the Socialist Party in 1996 , the Democratic Socialist Party and the Kōmeitō in 1994, the creation and subsequent dissolution of the New Frontier Party, the establishment of the two...	Motoo Shiina (Indep.)joined "Independent Assembly"
Tatsuo Hirano Tatsuo Hirano is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Kitakami, Iwate and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1977, attending the Iowa State University in the United... (LP Liberal Party (Japan, 1998) The was a Japanese liberal party formed in 1998 by Ichirō Ozawa and Hirohisa Fujii. It is now defunct, having joined the Democratic Party of Japan in 2003.... )	2001 Japanese House of Councillors election, 2001 Elections for the Japanese House of Councillors were held in Japan on 29 July 2001. It was the first national election since Junichiro Koizumi was appointed as prime minister after Yoshiro Mori...
	2004	Ryō Shuhama Ryo Shuhama is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Takizawa, Iwate and graduate of Hokkaido University, he worked at the government of Iwate Prefecture from 1973 until 2003. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the... (DPJ Democratic Party of Japan The is a political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several opposition parties. Its socially liberal platform is generally considered center-left in the Japanese political spectrum... )
Tatsuo Hirano (DPJ Democratic Party of Japan The is a political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several opposition parties. Its socially liberal platform is generally considered center-left in the Japanese political spectrum... )	2007 Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007 The for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 29, 2007. This was the only time Prime Minister Shinzō Abe had faced an election...
	2010 Japanese House of Councillors election, 2010 The for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 11, 2010. In the last election in 2007, the Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority to the Democratic Party of Japan , which managed to gain the largest margin since its formation in 1996. The House of Councillors is...

Party affiliations as of election day; #: resigned; †: died in office.

Recent election results

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