Between 1947 and 2007 Tochigi was represented by four councillors, elected two at a time by single non-transferable vote.

In the 1965 election, left-wing Socialist incumbent Takeshi Tokano finished only third behind two LDP candidates while another Socialist candidate, Takashi Hagiwara, received almost as many votes as Tokano.

In 1968, the LDP could repeat this success against incumbent Socialist Seiichi Inaba who finished only fourth behind Tokano, this time running as an independent.

In the following election of 1971 Tokano returned as a Socialist candidate to his seat with the highest vote; and Seiichi Inaba became a Socialist Member of the House of Representatives where he was a member of the sp cial committee investigating the Lockheed scandal.

Six years later, the leftist vote was still split among one Socialist, one Democratic Socialist and one Communist while there were only two LDP candidates on the conservative side: Once again, the party gained two Tochigi seats in one election.