2016 Fukuoka 6th district by-election

A by-election for the Fukuoka 6th district in the Japanese Japanese House of Representatives was held on 23 October 2016.[1] The by-election was called following the death of the incumbent member Kunio Hatoyama, a former cabinet minister and member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), from duodenal ulcer in Tokyo on 21 June 2016.[2] Hatoyama had served the district since 2005 and defended the seat by a margin of 43.94% in the 2014 election, where he faced only a Japanese Communist Party candidate. A separate by-election for the Tokyo 10th district was held on the same day.

2016 Fukuoka 6th district by-election
23 October 2016
Fukuoka 6th district
 
Nominee Jirō Hatoyama Fumiko Arai Ken Kurauchi
Party Independent Democratic Independent
Alliance 22,253
Popular vote 106,531 40,020 13.00%
Percentage 62.24% 23.38%
 
Nominee Tadahiro Nishihara
Party Happiness Realization
Popular vote 2,359
Percentage 1.38%
Representative before election

Kunio Hatoyama
Liberal Democratic

 Elected Representative

Jirō Hatoyama
Independent[note 1]

Hatoyama's son and Ōkawa mayor Jirō Hatoyama won the by-election as an independent. Hatoyama contested as an independent after a conflict with the local chapter of the LDP on the candidate selection process. The Fukuoka LDP prefectural chapter president, Isao Kurauchi, had submitted the nomination of his son Ken Kurauchi as the LDP candidate for the by-election before Hatoyama declared his candidacy. Hatoyama, who had originally planned to contest the by-election as an LDP candidate, protested this decision and decided to run as an independent. The national headquarters of the LDP attempted to persuade Kurauchi to drop out of the race to prevent dividing the LDP vote in the district. Kurauchi refused to drop out and contested the by-election.[3]

Hatoyama joined the LDP caucus soon after taking his seat in the Diet.[4]

Candidates
  • Jirō Hatoyama (Independent, later LDP), Mayor of Ōkawa and son of former representative Kunio Hatoyama
  • Fumiko Arai (DP, supported by SDP), former diplomat at the Japanese consulate-general in Chennai
  • Ken Kurauchi (Independent, LDP member), secretary at the Fukuoka chapter of the LDP and son of chapter president Isao Kurauchi
  • Tadahiro Nishihara (HRP), constituency party leader

Results
House of Representatives: Fukuoka 6th district by-election, 2016[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Jirō Hatoyama 106,531 62.24 N/A
Democratic Fumiko Arai 40,020 23.38 N/A
Independent Ken Kurauchi 22,253 13.00 N/A
Happiness Realization Tadahiro Nishihara 2,359 1.38 N/A
Rejected ballots 1,195 1.11
Majority 66,511 38.86 Decrease5.08
Turnout 173,078 45.46 Decrease1.52
Independent gain from Liberal Democratic Swing N/A

Footnotes
  1. Hatoyama joined the LDP caucus soon after he was elected.

References
  1. International Policy Forum. 14 September 2016
  3. "福岡６区補選 蔵内氏、辞退要請を拒否 自民党本部、鳩山氏一本化狙う" (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  4. "自民二階派に鳩山二郎氏入会 第３派閥まであと１人" (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  5. "衆議院福岡県第6区選出議員補欠選挙投・開票速報" [House of Representatives - Fukuoka 6th district by-election result.] (in Japanese). 23 October 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
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