Japan’s Unified Local Polls Likely to Be Highly Competitive

Tokyo, April 20 (Jiji Press)–Japanese opposition parties are seeking to bolster their presence in local assemblies, raising the possibility that unified local elections in spring next year will be highly competitive. The Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito in particular plan to actively field candidates in the local races. The two parties determined, after their lackluster gains in February’s general election, that their local organizations needed to be bolstered so that they do not have to rely on support from unaffiliated voters. “We need to put up at least 850 candidates,” DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki told reporters in Kokubunji, Tokyo, on Saturday, referring to the local elections. “We will begin efforts in earnest.” At a party convention on April 5, the DPFP set a goal of increasing its number of local assembly members from around 340 currently to 700 in the unified races. The party will set candidate targets for each prefectural chapter, with efforts focused on fielding candidates in areas where there are currently no DPFP assembly members. Senior DPFP members are continuing their nationwide touring efforts to find potential candidates in various areas. Sanseito aims to put up 600 candidates in the unified local elections and elect 500 of them. It also plans to actively field candidates for races leading up to the unified polls. The party has a goal of more than doubling its number of local assembly members from a little over 200 at present. It hopes to secure 300 candidates by the Golden Week holiday period through early May. The two parties believe that beefing up local political bases is crucial to expanding their influence. Both parties fell short of their targets in the February election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of parliament. Sanseito increased its number of seats to 15, while the DPFP was only able to expand its seat count by one. The unified local elections will be followed by the election for the House of Councillors, the upper parliamentary chamber, in 2028. “We will win a seat in Hokkaido in the Upper House race no matter what,” Sanseito chief Sohei Kamiya said in a street speech on Saturday in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost prefecture. Team Mirai, which made significant gains in the Lower House election, is taking a cautious approach in considering how many candidates to put up. “We will contest races in which we have high possibilities of winning,” party head Takahiro Anno told Jiji Press in an interview. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Komeito and the Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed by Lower House lawmakers from the two parties, reached a basic agreement this month on collaboration in the unified local elections. They plan to start the candidate nomination process as early as late May, with a goal of maximizing the number of seats held by the three parties. But some in Komeito, which has sought to elect all of its candidates in past unified local races, are calling for reducing the number of candidates due to its recent slump in support. The Japanese Communist Party, which halved its seat tally in the Lower House election, had its candidate elected in last month’s mayoral election in the Tokyo city of Kiyose. The JCP hopes to increase its seats in the unified local polls. “We’re gaining support for campaigning in a straightforward way against war and for protecting the Constitution,” party policy chief Taku Yamazoe told a press conference. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]