TOKYO: The Japanese internal affairs ministry said Saturday that the number of early voters for Sunday’s House of Representatives election stood at 16,624,813 as of Friday, up 6.3 pct from the same period before the previous Lower House poll in 2017.

Those who cast early votes accounted for 15.7 pct of all eligible voters as of Oct. 18.

Citizens have apparently become more familiar with the early voting system, while many voters are believed to have avoided congestion expected at polling stations on Sunday to prevent novel coronavirus infections, according to analysts.

Of all 47 prefectures, 39 had larger numbers of early voters than for the previous Lower House election. The size of growth was largest in Yamagata, at 22.5 pct, followed by Ishikawa, at 20.1 pct, and Iwate, at 20.0 pct.

Among eight prefectures with fewer early voters, Okinawa posted the steepest drop, of 10.7 pct, followed by Mie, at 9.3 pct, and Oita, at 6.3 pct.

JIJI Press