LDP, Komeito fail to reach majority in Tokyo assembly

Despite securing more seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, the Liberal Democratic Party suffered an effective loss in Sunday’s election, failing to increase its presence by as much as it hoped and not winning a majority of 64 seats together with Komeito.

The LDP regained its place as the No. 1 party in the assembly, winning 33 out of 127 seats. The number of seats held by the Tomin First no Kai party fell to 31, down from 46 before the election. Sunday’s results will inevitably impact the lower house election to be held by autumn.

TOMIN FIRST CEDES TOP PLACE

The main issues in this election were countermeasures against the novel coronavirus, which is feared to be resurging, and the pros and cons of hosting the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Each party viewed the Tokyo assembly election as a prelude to the House of Representatives poll, and prepared as if it were a national election.

Hoping to make amends for the LDP’s historic defeat in 2017, in which it only won a record low of 23 seats in the assembly, the LDP fielded 60 candidates covering all 42 constituencies. Aiming for a significant increase in seats, it called for accelerating vaccinations against COVID-19.

However, it struggled in many areas, winning only two seats in the seven single-seat constituencies, one in Chuo Ward and the other in the island area.

It ultimately fell short of the 38 seats that the LDP won in 2009, and finished at 33, the party’s second-lowest number ever. Meanwhile, all 23 Komeito candidates won their seats.

In response to the prospect that the LDP would not be able to achieve a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, Taimei Yamaguchi, chairman of the party’s election campaign committee, told reporters at the party’s headquarters on Sunday night, “We have to examine carefully where we failed to achieve our goal and go on to the next House of Representatives election.”

Komeito dissolved its relationship with Tomin First, with whom it joined forces in the last election, and formed an electoral alliance with the LDP, appealing for cooperation with the national government.

This was the eighth consecutive election in which all Komeito candidates were elected.

In the previous election, the first in which Tomin First fielded candidates, the party won 49 seats with the full support of Gov. Yuriko Koike, who was its representative at the time. However, Koike was hospitalized three days before the announcement of the latest election due to excessive fatigue, and did not show up in the early stages of the campaign. Instead, she made the rounds to encourage candidates the day before the vote.

Tomin First ultimately won three seats in single-seat constituencies, including a victory in the fiercely contested Chiyoda Ward, but was unable to maintain its position as the No. 1 party.

The Japanese Communist Party ran a 31-member campaign with a pledge to cancel the Tokyo Olympics. It won 19 seats, up one seat from 18 before the election.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan also advocated the cancellation or postponement of the Olympics, and increased its seats from seven before the election to 15, as a result of such successes as winning the single-seat district of Musashino. The Japanese Communist Party and the CDPJ are coordinating their candidates in some constituencies, and the two parties are expected to begin full-fledged discussions on an opposition coalition for the lower house election.

LDP OFFICIAL: UNEXPECTED RESULT

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told the press at the Prime Minister’s Office that he “humbly accepts” the fact that the LDP and Komeito failed to reach their goal of a combined majority of 64 seats in the assembly. The ruling coalition will hasten to analyze the results of the election in preparation for the lower house election, but the prime minister’s influence will inevitably decline.

A member of the LDP executive committee said Sunday night: “This is an unexpected result. If things continue like this, we’ll be in trouble in the lower house election.”

Vaccinations for COVID-19 are progressing, but infections continue to spread in Tokyo and elsewhere. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the prime minister is in a situation in which he has no choice but to extend the priority measures that expire on July 11, and his administration will continue to face difficulties.

2ND-LOWEST TURNOUT

Turnout for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election on Sunday was the second-lowest ever at 42.39%, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Election Administration Commission announced on Monday.

The low voter turnout may have been affected by rebounding coronavirus cases in the capital and a string of rainy days since late June, when campaigning began.

According to the commission, Sunday’s turnout was 8.89 percentage points lower than that of the previous election in 2017, when 51.28% of eligible voters cast a ballot, and the lowest number since the 1997 election when the figure stood at 40.80%. (July 6)