TOKYO: Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida won four of the five by-elections for the Diet, Japan’s parliament, held on Sunday, while opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) won one.

The LDP beat opposition party candidates in three constituencies of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, and one constituency of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber. Nippon Ishin defeated the LDP to newly secure a Lower House seat, while the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lost in all three constituencies where it fielded official candidates.

With the LDP having boosted its force in the five constituencies to four seats from three before the polls, the Kishida administration is expected to receive a tailwind to a certain extent and speculation of an early dissolution of the Lower House for a snap election may grow within the LDP, observers said.

“We were able to achieve good results,” LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters. “The administration was evaluated favorably.”

In the No. 5 Lower House constituency in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, Eri Arfiya, fielded by the LDP, won a close race with Kentaro Yazaki from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other candidates. The seat became vacant after Kentaro Sonoura, a former LDP member, resigned due to a political funds scandal.

In the No. 2 Lower House constituency of Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, the LDP’s Nobuchiyo Kishi, the eldest son of former Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, who vacated the seat due to health reasons, won a one-on-one battle with opposition-affiliated independent candidate Hideo Hiraoka.

In the No. 4 Lower House constituency of Yamaguchi, the LDP’s Shinji Yoshida secured the seat that became available following the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, defeating his rivals, including Yoshifu Arita of the CDP.

In the No. 1 Lower House constituency of Wakayama Prefecture, also in western Japan, Nippon Ishin’s Yumi Hayashi beat other candidates, including the LDP’s Hirofumi Kado.

The election for the Wakayama No. 1 constituency was held to pick the successor to Shuhei Kishimoto, former member of the opposition Democratic Party for the People who left the Lower House to become Wakayama governor.

In the election for an Upper House seat representing Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, held after an opposition-affiliated independent Upper House member quit to run in a gubernatorial race, the LDP’s Aki Shirasaka won a very close race with the CDP’s Tadatomo Yoshida, who was also backed by the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.

It is the first time for a Nippon Ishin candidate to win a seat in a Lower House single-seat constituency outside the western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo. Fumitake Fujita, secretary-general of Nippon Ishin, said in a television program, “The outcome reflected people’s support for our claim that the old political regime should be changed.”

Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, backed the LDP’s candidates in all of the by-elections.

The polls were regarded as an interim assessment of the Kishida administration, launched in October 2021. Election issues centered around measures to tackle rising prices and the country’s declining birthrate.

During the campaign period, an explosive was thrown at Kishida when he was visiting the western city of Wakayama for a stump speech on April 15. While Kishida was unhurt as he was evacuated quickly, how the incident will affect the outcome of the by-elections was closely watched.

JIJI Press