The Japanese National Proportional Representation Block, known in Japan as the is an electoral district for the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. It consists of the whole nation and elects 50 members per election, 100 in total (fully effective after the 2022 regular election), by D'Hondt method proportional representation (PR).

History Proportional voting was introduced to Japan in the 1983 House of Councillors election. The proportional district replaced the previous which elected 100 members of the House of Councillors (50 per election) by single non-transferable vote, i.e. votes were for individuals not parties as in the prefectural districts. Initially, the proportional representation block also elected 50 members, but was reduced to 48 members in the 2001 election, bringing the total of proportional members down to 96 in 2004.

From 1983 to 1998, the vote in the proportional district of the House of Councillors had to be for a party, lists were closed. Since the 2001 election there is the option to cast a preference vote for a single candidate instead, the vote then counts for both the party in the allocation of proportional seats to party lists, as well as the candidate in the ordering of party lists. From 2001 to 2016, the system was a most open list system: The ranking of candidates on a party list strictly followed the number of preference votes. This ranking also applies to the runner-up replacements in case of vacancies.

In the 2019 election, the proportional district was enlarged to 50 members, and the election system was modified to no longer be fully open. In a so-called tokutei-waku (特定枠, literally "special frame") parties may now choose to prioritize certain proportional candidates, such protected candidates can no longer be elected personally, but always come first in the allocation of proportional seats.Sōmushō, News on the electoral system, October 24, 2018: 参議院議員選挙制度の改正について, retrieved May 16, 2019.NHK kaisetsu blog archive, July 19, 2018: 「参院定数6増 比例特定枠導入～選挙制度改革行方は」（時論公論）, retrieved May 16, 2019.

Unlike elections to the House of Representatives, where a proportional segment was introduced in 1996, a simultaneous dual candidacy in both the majoritarian and the proportional election is not allowed in the House of Councillors.

Summary of results for major parties Ruling parties at the time of the election are bolded.

+ Proportional results in regular House of Councillors elections Election LDP JSP/SDP DPJ/CDP JCP Komeito Others Votes Seats Votes Seats Votes Seats Votes Seats Votes Seats Votes Seats 1983 35.3% 19 16.3% 9 – – 8.9% 7 15.7% 8 8.4% 4 1986 38.6% 22 17.2% 9 – – 9.5% 4 13.0% 7 6.9% 3 1989 27.3% 15 35.1% 20 – – 7.0% 4 10.9% 6 4.9% 2 1992 33.0% 19 17.6% 10 – – 7.8% 4 14.8% 8 5.0% 3 1995 27.3% 15 16.9% 9 – – 9.5% 5 – – 30.8% 18 1998 25.2% 14 7.8% 4 – – 14.6% 8 13.8% 7 21.7% 12 2001 38.6% 20 6.6% 3 – – 7.9% 4 15.0% 8 16.4% 8 2004 30.6% 15 5.5% 3 – – 8.0% 4 15.7% 8 38.6% 19 2007 28.1% 14 4.5% 2 – – 7.5% 3 13.2% 7 41.2% 21 2010 24.1% 12 3.9% 2 – – 6.1% 3 13.1% 6 31.6% 16 2013 34.7% 18 2.4% 1 8.9% 5 9.7% 5 14.2% 7 26.3% 17 2016 35.9% 19 2.7% 1 10.1% 5 10.7% 5 13.5% 7 31.2% 15 2019 35.4% 19 2.1% 1 7.9% 4 9.0% 4 13.1% 7 37.6% 15 2022 34.4% 18 2.4% 1 7.3% 3 6.8% 3 11.7% 6 33.6% 17

Recent results

The total (party+preference) proportional votes, vote shares and allocated seats for each party are in the top row. Below are all elected candidates with number of preference votes in bold, and runner-up plus losing incumbents if any. "..." indicates higher-ranking losing non-incumbents. For parties without any seat, the top two candidates are listed with their personal votes.

2025

2019 + 2019 House of Councillors election – National Block resultsSōmushō: 第25回参議院議員通常選挙結果調, pp. 37–41, retrieved September 18, 2019. Party Votes % Seats Elected candidates Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 17,712,373 35.4% 19 Tōru Miki (protected) – 600,190 Yasushi Miura (protected) – 540,078 Yoshifumi Tsuge – 288,080 Tarō Yamada – 237,432 Masamune Wada – 232,549 Masahisa Satō – 225,617 Nobuaki Satō – 217,620 Seiko Hashimoto – 206,221 Toshio Yamada – 202,122 Haruko Arimura – 189,893 Shōji Miyamoto – 178,210 Masahiro Ishida – 159,596 Tsuneo Kitamura – 154,578 Akiko Honda – 152,808 Seiichi Etō – 137,502 Takashi Hanyūda – 133,646 Masao Miyazaki – 131,727 Akiko Santō – 114,596 Masaaki Akaike – 92,420 Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) 7,917,721 15.8% 8 Makiko Kishi – 157,849 Shunichi Mizuoka – 148,309 Masahito Ozawa – 144,751 Saori Yoshikawa – 143,472 Takashi Moriya – 104,339 Ryūhei Kawada – 94,702 Taiga Ishikawa – 73,799 Genki Sudo – 73,787 Kōmeitō 6,536,336 13.1% 7 Kanae Yamamoto – 594,289 Hiroshi Yamamoto – 471,760 Kaneshige Wakamatsu – 342,356 Yoshihiro Kawano – 328,659 Hideki Niizuma – 281,832 Daisaku Hiraki – 183,869 Hiroaki Shiota – 15,178 Nippon Ishin no Kai 4,907,844 9.8% 5 Muneo Suzuki – 220,743 Kunihiko Muroi – 87,188 Satoshi Umemura – 58,270 Takumi Shibata – 53,938 Hirofumi Yanagase – 53,086 Japanese Communist Party 4,483,411 9.0% 4 Akira Koike – 158,621 Yoshiki Yamashita – 48,932 Satoshi Inoue – 42,982 Tomoko Kami – 34,696 Democratic Party for the People 3,481,078 7.0% 3 Mami Tamura – 260,324 Tetsuji Isozaki – 258,507 Yoshifumi Hamano – 256,929 Reiwa Shinsengumi 2,280,253 4.6% 2 Yasuhiko Funago (protected) – 991,757 Eiko Kimura (protected) – 20,557 Social Democratic Party (SDP) 1,046,012 2.1% 1 Tadatomo Yoshida – 149,287 NHK Party 987,885 2.0% 1 Takashi Tachibana – 130,233 (resigned Oct 2019) Satoshi Hamada – 9,309 (replacement) Euthanasia Party 269,052 0.5% 0 – Happiness Realization Party 202,279 0.4% 0 –

2016 + 2016 House of Councillors election – National Block resultsYomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, LDP Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, DP Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Kōmeitō Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, JCP Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Ōsaka ishin no kai Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Seikatsu no tō Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Nippon no kokoro o taisetsu ni suru tō Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Shiji seitō nashi Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Shintō kaikaku Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Kokumin ikari no koe Yomiuri Online, 2016 election results: proportional election, Kōfukujitsugentō Party Votes % Seats Elected candidates Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 20,114,788 35.9% 19 Masayuki Tokushige (521,060) Shigeharu Aoyama (481,890) Satsuki Katayama (393,382) Satoshi Nakanishi (392,433) Eriko Imai (319,359) Toshiyuki Adachi (293,735) Eriko Yamatani (249,844) Shin'ya Fujiki (236,119) Hanako Jimi (210,562) Kanehiko Shindō (182,467) Emiko Takagai (177,810) Hiroshi Yamada (149,833) Toshiyuki Fujii (142,132) Masashi Adachi (139,110) Takashi Uto (137,993) Katsumi Ogawa (130,101) Yoshifumi Miyajima (122,833) Toshiei Mizuochi (114,485) Shūkō Sonoda (101,154) Democratic Party (DP) 11,751,015 21.0% 11 Masao Kobayashi (270,285) Makoto Hamaguchi (266,623) Wakako Yata (215,823) Yoshifu Arita (205,884) Takanori Kawai (196,023) Shōji Nanba (191,823) Takashi Esaki (184,187) Masayoshi Nataniya (176,683) Michihiro Ishibashi (171,486) Kenzō Fujisue (143,188) Shinkun Haku (138,813) Kōmeitō 7,572,960 13.5% 7 Hiroaki Nagasawa (942,266) Kōzō Akino (612,068) Shin'ichi Yokoyama (606,889) Seishi Kumano (605,223) Masaaki Taniai (478,174) Masayoshi Hamada (388,477) Masaru Miyazaki (18,571) Japanese Communist Party 6,016,195 10.7% 4 Tadayoshi Ichida (77,348) Tomoko Tamura (49,113) Mikishi Daimon (33,078) Tomo Iwabuchi (31,099) Osaka Ishin no Kai 5,153,584 9.2% 4 Toranosuke Katayama (194,902) Yoshimi Watanabe (143,343) Mitsuko Ishii (68,147) Akira Ishii (50,073) Social Democratic Party (SDP) 1,536,239 2.7% 1 Mizuho Fukushima (254,956) People's Life Party 1,067,301 1.9% 1 Ai Aoki (109,050) Party for Japanese Kokoro 734,024 1.3% 0 – No Party to Support 647,071 1.1% 0 – New Renaissance Party 580,653 1.0% 0 – Angry Voice of the Citizens 466,706 0.8% 0 – Happiness Realization Party 366,815 0.6% 0 –

2013 + 2013 House of Councillors election – National Block resultsYomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Jiyūminshutō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Kōmeitō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Minshutō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Nippon Ishin no Kai Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Nihon Kyōsantō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Minna no Tō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Shakaiminshutō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Seikatsu no Tō Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Shintō Daichi Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Midori no Tō Greens Japan Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Midori no Kaze Yomiuri Online, 2013 election results: proportional election, Kōfukujitsugentō Party Votes % Seats Elected candidates LDP 18,460,404 34.7% 18 Yoshifumi Tsuge – 429,002 Toshio Yamada – 338,485 Masahisa Satō – 326,541 Midori Ishii – 294,148 Seiko Hashimoto – 279,952 Takashi Hanyūda – 249,818 Nobuaki Satō – 215,506 Masaaki Akaike – 208,319 Akiko Santō – 205,779 Seiichi Etō – 204,404 Masahiro Ishida – 201,109 Haruko Arimura – 191,343 Shūji Miyamoto – 178,480 Kazuya Maruyama – 153,303 Tsuneo Kitamura – 142,613 Miki Watanabe – 104,176 Yoshio Kimura – 98,979 Fusae Ōta – 77,173 Kōmeitō 7,568,080 14.2% 7 Kanae Yamamoto – 996,959 Daisaku Hiraki – 770,682 Yoshihiro Kawano – 703,637 Hiroshi Yamamoto – 592,814 Kaneshige Wakamatsu – 577,951 Yūichirō Uozumi – 540,817 Hideki Niizuma – 26,044 Democratic Party of Japan 7,268,653 13.4% 7 Tetsuji Isozaki – 271,553 Yoshifumi Hamano – 235,917 Kumiko Aihara – 235,636 Kusuo Ōshima – 191,167 Mieko Kamimoto – 176,248 Saori Yoshikawa – 167,437 Toshio Ishigami – 152,121 Japan Restoration Party 6,355,299 11.9% 6 Antonio Inoki – 356,605 Kyōko Nakayama – 306,341 Mitsuo Gima – 40,484 Takeshi Fujimaki – 33,237 Masashi Nakano – 32,926 Kunihiko Muroi – 32,107 Japanese Communist Party 5,154,055 9.7% 5 Akira Koike – 134,325 Yoshiki Yamashita – 129,149 Tomoko Kami – 68,729 Satoshi Inoue – 50,874 Kōhei Nihi – 39,768 Your Party 4,755,160 8.9% 4 Ryūhei Kawada – 117,389 Kazuyuki Yamaguchi – 75,000 Michitarō Watanabe – 50,253 Yoshiyuki Inoue – 47,756 SDP 1,255,235 2.4% 1 Seiji Mataichi – 156,155 People's Life Party 492,040 0.9% 0 – New Party Daichi 273,356 0.5% 0 – Greens Japan 246,020 0.5% 0 – Green Wind 218,685 0.4% 0 – Happiness Realization Party 109,342 0.2% 0 –

Notes

References