Campaign of General Election Starts

The 50th general election of the House of Representatives was proclaimed on October 15th. 1,344 candidates were fieldedin single-seat constituencies or proportional representatives. This election was called by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who sought voters’ judge for his new administration built earlier this month. His party, the Liberal Democratic Party, has been in a turmoil caused by the slush fund scandal since last year. The focal point in this election is whether the leading coalition of LDP and Komeito can maintain their simple majority in the House.

The LDP fielded 342 candidates; 266 for single-seat constituencies and 76 for proportional representatives. The number of proportional representatives does not include the candidates with double nomination, who will be resurrected in case they lose in single-seat constituency. Komeito fielded 50, with 11 for single-seat and 39 for the proportional.

 

Before the proclamation, the LDP had 256 seats in the House, and Komeito 32. If the leading coalition by those two parties reduce their seats under the simple majority of 233, the administration will need to include some independent seats or include some opposition parties in the coalition. It is likely that the LDP will lose certain amount of its seats, because of negative impact of the slush fund scandal which will affect some candidates who had been involved in it.

 

The top opposition party, Constitutional Democratic Party, fielded 237 candidates, among which 207 were for single-seat constituencies. Significant enough, Japan Communist Party fielded 213 candidates for single-seat constituencies, six more than CDP. Large number of the candidates of CDP and JCP will compete with each other in each district. CDP’s new leader, Yoshihiko Noda who takes his position in the center-right, failed in having integrated candidates with the JCP in most constituencies.

 

Japan Innovation Party, or Nippon Ishin-no Kai, fielded 164 candidates, most of whom were for single-seat constituencies. CDP, JCP and Ishin have 583 candidates for 289 single-seat constituencies, indeed. It is likely that votes against the leading coalition will be divided into the opposition parties in the election of first past the post, resulting in the victory of the candidates of leading coalition.

 

The candidates embarked on their campaign as soon as the election was proclaimed. The party leaders started campaign trail to appeal their policies.

 

Ishiba promised reborn of his LDP from disgrace of the slush fund scandal. “We never repeat this kickback fund scandal with deep reflection,” said Ishiba in his campaign speech at Iwaki city, Fukushima. Noda urged the voters to say goodbye to LDP politics which is soaked in scandals. Ishin’s leader, Nobuyuki Baba, and JCP chairperson, Tomoko Tamura, emphasized importance of transparency in dealing with political funds.

 

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