Saga 1st district

Saga 1st district (佐賀県第1区, Saga-ken dai-ikku) is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Saga Prefecture.

Saga 1st District
Parliamentary constituency for the Japanese House of Representatives
Numbered map of Saga Prefecture single-member districts
Prefecture	Saga
Proportional District	Kyushu
Current constituency
Created	1994
Seats	One
Party	CDP
Representative	Kazuhiro Haraguchi

Kazuhiro Haraguchi initially won the district narrowly for the New Frontier Party (NFP) in 1996 but lost it in 2000 to Takanori Sakai (LDP) who was appointed as Cabinet Office Vice Minister in the 2nd realigned Mori cabinet. In March 2003, Sakai was arrested (and later sentenced to 32 months in prison) for having received illicit corporate donations in violation of the Political Funds Control Law.^[1][2]
Takamaro Fukuoka replaced Sakai as LDP candidate for Saga 1 in the 2003 election and lost to Haraguchi. The "postal privatization" election of 2005 gave the LDP a landslide victory, and Fukuoka beat Haraguchi despite the fact that the DPJ's opposition ally, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), unlike in previous elections did not nominate a candidate in Saga 1st district. In the landslide LDP defeat of 2009, Haraguchi won the district for the third time and became the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in the Hatoyama Cabinet.
Haraguchi was defeated by Kazuchika Iwata (LDP), a former second-generation Saga prefectural assemblyman, in 2012 but regained the seat in 2014.

In September 2023 the district had 331,037 eligible voters.^[3] In 2012 they were 237,748.^[4]

Before the 1994 electoral reform, the area had been part of Saga At-large district where five representatives were elected by single non-transferable vote.

Area

• Saga City
• Tosu
• Kanzaki
• Yoshinogari (town in Kanzaki District)
• Towns of Miyaki District

List of representatives

Election	Representative	Party		Notes
1996	Kazuhiro Haraguchi		NFP	After the dissolution of NFP, Haraguchi joined DPJ through Voice of the people, GGP.
2000	Takanori Sakai		LDP
2003	Kazuhiro Haraguchi		DPJ
2005	Takamaro Fukuoka		LDP	Elected to the House of Councillors in 2010
2009	Kazuhiro Haraguchi		DPJ
2012	Kazuchika Iwata		LDP
2014	Kazuhiro Haraguchi		DPJ
2017			Ind.	Haraguchi tried to run for office in Kibō no Tō, but gave up.
2021			CDP
2024

Election results

2024^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	CDP	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	96,083	54.7
	LDP	Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat)	79,723	45.3
Registered electors			330,285
Turnout				54.48
	CDP hold

2021

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	CDP	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	92,452	50.04
	LDP (Komeito)	Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat)	92,319	49.96

2017

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent (DP)	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	105,487	55.65
	LDP (Komeito)	Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat)	78,972	41.66
	Happiness Realization Party	Toru Nakajima	5086	2.68

2014^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	85,903	47.5
	LDP	Kazuchika Iwata (Won PR seat)	83,421	46.1
	JCP	Makoto Koga	11,483	6.4
Registered electors			327,125
Turnout				56.43
	Democratic gain from LDP

2012^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	LDP (Kōmeitō)	Kazuchika Iwata	70,547	49.2
	DPJ (PNP)	Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat)	63,007	43.9
	JCP	Hitoshi Ōmori	9,857	6.9

2009^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DPJ (SDP, PNP support)	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	96,618
	LDP (Kōmeitō support)	Takamaro Fukuoka	75,475
	Happiness Realization Party	Ken Koba	1,568
Turnout			175,824	74.77

2005^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	LDP	Takamaro Fukuoka	84,643
	DPJ	Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat)	75,449
	JCP	Akemi Mutō	8,029
Turnout			170,282	73.28

2003^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DPJ	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	70,271
	LDP	Takamaro Fukuoka	66,446
	SDP	Hisahiro Shibata	8,315
	JCP	Yasutoshi Kamimura	4,977
Turnout			152,297	66.13

2000^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	LDP	Takanori Sakai	70,155
	DPJ	Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Won PR seat)	62,932
	SDP	Katsuyō Ogata	30,018
	JCP	Yasutoshi Kamimura	7,173
	Liberal League	Kō Nagai	1,612

1996^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NFP	Kazuhiro Haraguchi	62,515
	LDP	Takanori Sakai (Won PR seat)	60,286
	SDP	Katsuyō Ogata	27,514
	JCP	Yasutoshi Kamimura	7,670
	Liberal League	Takashi Kimura	2,493

References

1. The Japan Times, June 27, 2003: Sakai, cohort plead not guilty to defrauding state
2. The Japan Times, March 23, 2007: Prosecutors drive ex-labor minister to penitentiary
3. "総務省｜令和4年9月1日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数" [Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications - Number of registered voters as of 1 September 2023] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-12-07.
4. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC): 平成24年9月2日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数>選挙区ごとの選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数等 (in Japanese)
5. "2024年衆議院議員総選挙 佐賀". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved December 28, 2024.
6. "2014衆院選:衆議院選挙:選挙アーカイブス:NHK選挙WEB". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved December 28, 2024.
7. 総選挙2012>開票結果 小選挙区 佐賀. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-06-05.
8. 衆議院>第45回衆議院議員選挙>佐賀県>佐賀1区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2010-01-07. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
9. 衆議院>第44回衆議院議員選挙>佐賀県>佐賀1区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Archived from the original on 2009-08-22. Retrieved 2009-12-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
10. 衆議院 >第43回衆議院議員選挙 >佐賀県>佐賀1区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Retrieved 2009-12-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
11. 衆議院>第42回衆議院議員選挙>佐賀県>佐賀1区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Retrieved 2009-12-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
12. 衆議院>第41回衆議院議員選挙 >佐賀県>佐賀1区. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Retrieved 2010-01-07. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)^{[permanent dead link‍]}