The death of the Takeshita brothers (Noboru, along with Wataru Takeshita) has strained LDP influence in the prefecture. Additionally, Hiroyuki Hosoda himself died in October 2023.[2] Prior to this, Hosoda's margin of victory had been halved; prior to 2017, he had won by nearly thirty points in every election. In the 2017 Japanese general election, this was cut down to twenty, and Akiko Kamei became the first opposition politician since 2009 to return on a proportional block. Despite her losing the proportional seat in the 2021 Japanese general election, Hosoda's margin of victory had been cut down to a further fifteen points. With Hosoda's death and extreme unpopularity relating to his sexual harassment scandals and ties to the Unification Church, the by-election due to occur in April 2024, were projected to be unusually close. The opposition unified around Akiko Kamei, who won with a clear majority, marking the first time an opposition delegate had ever been elected from Shimane since the introduction of FPTP seats.[3][4]
