Koike-backed party gains seats as LDP dealt setback in Tokyo assembly poll
The political party backed by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike cruised to victory in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan assembly elections, as voters dealt the Liberal Democratic Party a historic blow.
Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), supported by Koike as a special adviser, remained the biggest party, taking 31 seats, up from 26.
Meanwhile, the LDP secured just 21 seats — down from 30 in the previous assembly. The party, which together with Komeito makes up the ruling bloc in national politics, had never had fewer than 23 seats in the assembly.
Komeito was also dealt a blow, winning 19 seats, down from 23. It was the first time since 1993 that every Komeito candidate running for the assembly had not managed to win a seat.
Still, the three parties supporting Koike — Tomin first, the LDP and Komeito — managed to maintain their combined majority of 127 total seats in the assembly.
Two smaller parties, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, also won seats for the first time, securing nine and three spots, respectively.
Despite fielding 42 candidates, the Path to Rebirth, the new regional party set up by Shinji Ishimaru — runner-up to Koike in last year's gubernatorial election — all failed to win a seat.
Turnout across 42 voting districts in Tokyo was 47.59%, 5.2 percentage points higher than the previous election in 2021 and the fifth lowest in history.
A main focus of voters were measures to combat rising prices in Tokyo.
The election results were seen as an indicator for the Upper House election which is expected to be held July 20.
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