Kyoto had been a traditional stronghold of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP); but following the electoral reform that replaced the SNTV multi-member districts with FPTP single-member districts, the 3rd district was the only one in Kyōto the JCP could win: Iwao Teramae was one of only two JCP candidates countrywide to win a district seat under the new system in the 1996 general election (the other being Kenjirō Yamahara in Kōchi 1st district). After Teramae's retirement in the 2000 election, Liberal Democrat Shigehiko Okuyama who had narrowly lost to Teramae in ’96 won the district in 2000 when the center-left to left vote was split between a Communist, a Social Democrat and a Democrat. In three following elections, the Social Democratic Party did not nominate a candidate and the Communist vote share dropped below 20 percent and since 2003, Democrat Kenta Izumi won the 3rd district three times. In 2012, Izumi lost the district by 216 votes to 31-year-old Liberal Democratic newcomer Kensuke Miyazaki. In 2016, Miyazaki resigned because of a personal scandal[3] and Izumi regained his seat in the subsequent by-elections.
Areas covered
Current district
As of 5 January 2023, the areas covered by this district are as follows:
^"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 2022] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-01-04.
^小選挙区 京都3区 (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
^"開票結了速報" [Preliminary final results] (PDF) (in Japanese). Kyoto Prefecture. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
^"衆院京都3区補選" [House of Representatives - Kyoto 3rd district by-election] (in Japanese). NHK. 24 April 2016. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
^"選挙当日の有権者数、投票者数及び投票率に関する調 [投票結了]" [Number of voters on election day and turnout (post-election report)] (PDF) (in Japanese). Kyoto Prefecture. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.