Tokyo, Nov. 11 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill to hold next year’s unified local elections on April 11 and 25. Elections for heads and assembly members of prefectures and ordinance-designated major cities will be held on April 11. Those for heads and assembly members of other municipalities will take place on April 25. Some 1,000 elections are expected to be held nationwide, including gubernatorial elections for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Osaka, Nara, Tottori, Shimane, Tokushima and Oita. In order to increase public interest and reduce costs, election schedules for heads and assembly members of local governments are unified once every four years. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
