LDP Suffers Historic Defeat in Tokyo Assembly Election
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, suffered a historic defeat in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, in the lead-up to the House of Councillors election next month.
Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites first group) overtook the LDP as the largest force in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly. The LDP saw its Tokyo assembly share hit a record low.
Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner in national politics, failed to see all of its candidates elected, for the first time in nine metropolitan assembly elections.
Tomin First, a regional party with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike as special adviser, the LDP and Komeito, all of which support the governor, maintained their combined majority in the assembly.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito won their first seats in the Tokyo assembly.
Japanese political parties focused on the Tokyo assembly election, as its results are expected to influence their strategies for the upcoming Upper House race.
A total of 295 candidates, the most since the start of the previous Heisei era in Japan, ran in 42 electoral districts in the assembly race, discussing issues including measures to cope with inflation and a political funds scandal involving the LDP.
Tomin First won 31 seats, up from its pre-election share of 26 seats, followed by the LDP, with 21 seats, down from 30 seats, Komeito, with 19, down from 23, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, with 17, up from 12, and the Japanese Communist Party, with 14, down from 19.
The DPFP and Sanseito won nine and three seats, respectively.
A new regional party led by Shinji Ishimaru, who came in second in last year's Tokyo gubernatorial election, endorsed 42 candidates, but none of them won a seat.
Voter turnout was 47.59%, up from 42.39% in the previous metropolitan assembly election.
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