Kyoto 3rd district by-election, 2016

Kyoto 3rd district by-election, 2016

24 April 2016
Kyoto 3rd district
Turnout	30.12%
100px Nominee Kenta Izumi Natsue Mori Yukiko Ono Party Democratic Initiatives Japanese Kokoro Popular vote 65,051 20,710 6,449 Percentage 65.42% 20.83% 6.49%   Nominee Masafumi Tabuchi Mitsuko Ōyagi Akihiko Kōri Party Independent Happiness Realization Independent Popular vote 4,599 2,247 370 Percentage 4.63% 2.26% 0.37%
Representative before election Kensuke Miyazaki Liberal Democratic Elected Representative Kenta Izumi Democratic

A by-election for the Kyoto-3rd seat in the Japanese House of Representatives was held on 24 April 2016, coinciding with the by-election in Hokkaido. The seat became vacant after sitting member Kensuke Miyazaki resigned on 12 February 2016 in the midst of an extramarital affair scandal. Miyazaki, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, served the district from 2012. He defeated Democratic Party of Japan MP Kenta Izumi by slim margins in the 2012 (0.1%) and 2014 (2.7%) elections.

Izumi managed to wrest back his old seat by a landslide, eclipsing his nearest rival by 45 percentage points.

Outline

The district had 344,696 registered voters for the election, an increase of 0.12% since the 2014 general election. As the voting age for national elections will decrease to 18 years in June 2016, this by-election, along with the Hokkaido by-election, were the last national-level election with a minimum voting age of 20 years. The by-elections were the first national-level elections contested by the Democratic Party, Initiatives from Osaka party and Party for Japanese Kokoro under their respective current names. The Communist Party also chose not to field a candidate in the election, despite receiving 27,000 votes (16%) in the 2014 election.

Dates

• 16 March 2016 - Date of election announced
• 12 April 2016 - List of candidates published
• 13-23 April - Early-voting polling booths open
• 24 April 2016 - Polling day

Candidates

The by-election was a six-way race. The LDP decided against fielding a candidate due to the perceived anti-LDP sentiment in light of the Miyazaki scandal. Party bosses were also worried that a heavy defeat in Kyoto might affect LDP's campaign for the House of Councillors election in summer.

Candidates
	Party for Japanese Kokoro	Yukiko Ono	Endorsed by the New Renaissance Party
	Independent	Masafumi Tabuchi
	Happiness Realization Party	Mitsuko Ōyagi
	Initiatives from Osaka	Natsue Mori
	Democratic	Kenta Izumi	Endorsed by the Social Democratic Party. Representative of the district for three terms (2003-2012). Lost the district in 2012 and 2014 but remained in the House via the Kinki PR block.
	Independent	Akihiro Kōri

Results

House of Representatives: Kyoto 3rd district by-election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kenta Izumi	65,051	65.42	32.31
	Initiatives	Natsue Mori	20,710	20.83	5.82
	Japanese Kokoro	Yukiko Ono	6,449	6.49	N/A
	Independent	Masafumi Tabuchi	4,599	4.63	N/A
	Happiness Realization	Mitsuko Ōyagi	2,247	2.26	N/A
	Independent	Akihiko Kōri	370	0.37	N/A
Rejected ballots			4,224	4.08
Majority			44,341	44.59	42.8
Turnout			103,650	30.12
	Democratic gain from Liberal Democratic		Swing	N/A

Note:
¹ The percentage swing for the Democratic Party candidate is calculated based on the vote share obtained by its predecessor, DPJ.
² The percentage swing for the Initiatives from Osaka candidate is calculated based on the vote share obtained by its predecessor, Japan Innovation Party.