TOKYO: A total of 1,011 people were preparing to run in the next election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, as of Saturday, according to a Jiji Press survey.
After the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost three Lower House by-elections in April and regional elections amid a political funds scandal involving LDP factions, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other oppositions are increasingly demanding Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio dissolve the Lower House at an early date, planning to boost the number of candidates they will field for a snap election.
The term of office for the current Lower House members ends in October next year. The prime minister has decided not to dissolve the Lower House during the ordinary Diet session, which effectively ended Friday. He is expected to dissolve the all-important Diet chamber for the snap election in autumn or later.
The total number of Lower House seats is 465, of which 289 are allocated to single-seat constituencies and 176 are proportional representation seats. At least 233 seats must be won in order to reach a majority.
The next Lower House poll will be the first election to be held under an electoral map that has been revamped to narrow vote-value disparities.
The LDP has decided who it will field in 267 electoral districts. Excluding the 11 constituencies where the LDP’s junior coalition partner, Komeito, will field its own candidates, the LDP still can put up candidates for 11 more districts.
However, the LDP plans not to field candidates for four districts currently represented by Lower House members who were asked to leave the party or had their party membership suspended in connection with the political funds scandal.
The ruling party will seek candidates for the remaining seven districts, including the Tokyo No. 15 constituency, for which it did not field a candidate in the by-election in April, as well as the No. 3 constituency in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, which was the home turf for a former LDP member who has resigned as a lawmaker over an affair with a woman.
Komeito will newly put up candidates in the No. 14 constituency in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, and the No. 16 constituency in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. The junior ruling party is wary of the possible impact of the funds scandal on its campaigning, with fierce battles against candidates of opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) anticipated in six constituencies in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, western Japan.
The CDP has decided to put up 179 candidates for single-seat constituencies. One individual will run solely as the party’s proportional representation candidate, without running in any single-seat constituency. The main opposition party will accelerate efforts to put up a total of 200 candidates, seeking a change of government by taking advantage of the political funds scandal.
Much attention is paid to whether the CDP can unify candidates with the opposition Japanese Communist Party in 75 electoral districts and with the Democratic Party for the People, also an opposition party, in 10 constituencies.
The JCP has already decided to field 143 candidates in single-seat constituencies and 19 people are preparing to run solely as the party’s proportional representation candidates. The DPFP will put up 37 candidates for single-seat constituencies, and an individual backed by the party will vie solely for a proportional representation seat.
Nippon Ishin, which aims to become the country’s largest opposition party, has decided who it will field in 158 electoral districts. The focus is on how many seats it can secure in areas other than the western Japan region, its home turf.
Reiwa Shinsengumi, the Social Democratic Party and Sanseito are also working to secure candidates.
JIJI Press