Previously, all of Tokushima prefecture had formed one SNTV multi-member constituency (five representatives) since 1947.

Liberal Democrat Mamoru Fukuyama, former six-term member and president of the Tokushima prefectural assembly and secretary-general of the LDP prefectural federation, defeated Democrat Yoshito Sengoku in the 2012 Representatives election by almost 20,000 votes.

Sengoku, a candidate for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and its 1996 precursor had won the district five times after its creation.

Sengoku, a lawyer and University of Tokyo drop-out, had previously represented the Tokushima At-large district between 1990 and 1993 for the Socialist Party of Japan.

In the election of 2005 it had 214,763 constituents and its voters had the highest electoral weight throughout Japan.