Maki Ikeda

Japanese politician (born 1972)

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池田真紀

Member of the House of RepresentativesIn office
27 October 2017 – 14 October 2021ConstituencyHokkaido PR Personal detailsBorn (1972-05-24) 24 May 1972 (age 52)
Itabashi, Tokyo, JapanPolitical partyCDPOther political
affiliationsDP (2016–2017, split)
Independent (2014–2016)Alma materHokkaido UniversityWebsiteikemaki.jp

Maki Ikeda (池田真紀, Ikeda Maki, born 24 May 1972) is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. She was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) representing Hokkaido through the Hokkaido PR block.

Biography

Ikeda was born in Itabashi, Tokyo in 1972. Her childhood was marred by abuse from her father, which led her family to disintegrate by the time she was in middle school. Ikeda studied up to second year of high school before dropping out as she was unable to pay for her tuition.^[1]

In 1995, she trained as a caregiver and then worked at the Itabashi welfare office. Later in 1997, she enrolled in a Tokyo vocational school and received a qualification in welfare.^[2] She worked in the office until 2011, when she moved to Hokkaido to head an NGO focusing on rebuilding the lives of welfare recipients and pensioners. Several years after settling in Hokkaido, she entered Hokkaido University as a mature student and took a postgraduate course in Public Policy. She graduated in March 2015.

Ikeda first ran for public office in the 2014 general election. She ran as an independent candidate for the Hokkaido 2nd district seat with the support of the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan, finishing in the third place. She would then become the official opposition candidate for the neighbouring Hokkaido 5th district seat in the 2016 by-election, but lost narrowly to the LDP candidate Yoshiaki Wada.^[3] Ikeda ran again for the seat in the 2017 general election. She narrowly lost her rematch with Wada but obtained enough votes to be returned through the CDP's PR block list.^[4]

Ikeda is a single mother with two adult children.^[2]

References

^ 【衆院北海道５区補選】池田まき候補第一声（江別市） 2016年4月12日 (Hokkaido 5th district by-election – Candidate Maki Ikeda's first speech (Ebetsu, 12 April 2016)) (in Japanese). Ebetsu: Democratic Party. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b "プロフィール". 池田まき公式サイト. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
^ "衆議院北海道第5区選出議員補欠選挙投・開票速報" [House of Representatives – Hokkaido 5th district by-election early returns.] (in Japanese). 24 April 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
^ "2017総選挙＞小選挙区開票速報：北海道（定数12）" (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 8 March 2018.