Heavyweight Centrist Candidates Lose Constituency Races

(Tamayo Marukawa was one of LDP candidates who won their Lower House races. In an earlier version of this article, her surname name was misspelled as “Maruyama.”) Heavyweight Centrist Candidates Lose Constituency Races Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)–Heavyweight candidates from the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance lost their constituency races in Sunday’s election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of Japan’s parliament. Party co-secretary-general Jun Azumi failed to win back his seat in the Miyagi No. 4 constituency, while co-election chief Sumio Mabuchi lost in the Nara No. 1 constituency. Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and former leader of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, was defeated in the Iwate No. 3 constituency. Former Lower House Vice Speaker Koichiro Genba, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and former welfare minister Akira Nagatsuma lost in the Fukushima No. 2, Saitama No. 5 and Tokyo No. 27 constituencies, respectively. Former Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who did not stand for a proportional representation seat, will not return to parliament after losing in the Mie No. 3 constituency. Among major candidates of other parties, Kazuhiro Haraguchi, co-chief of the Tax Cuts Japan & Patriotic Alliance, was defeated in the Saga No. 1 constituency. Former agriculture minister Taku Eto was unable to retake the Miyazaki No. 2 constituency. Those who lost in constituency races may still win Lower House seats if they are also registered as proportional representation candidates. Of LDP candidates involved in a high-profile slush funds scandal, Tamayo Marukawa, Hakubun Shimomura, Koichi Hagiuda and Ryota Takeda won their respective constituencies. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]