October 24, 2023

In the Miyagi Prefectural Assembly election on October 22, the Japanese Communist Party maintained its pre-election strength of five. On the other hand, the Liberal Democratic Party lost four assembly seats.

In the two-member Tagajo-Shichigahama constituency, a JCP candidate defeated an LDP candidate by a narrow margin and won a seat for the first time in that district. In a five-member district in Sendai City, a JCP candidate came in second, regaining the JCP seat which the party lost in the previous election.

In the election campaign, the JCP received support from a local Civil Alliance by concluding an agreement to work to block the planned reorganization of four prefecture-run hospitals and oppose the reactivation of the Onagawa nuclear power plant. The JCP appealed to voters for their support by promising to push the prefectural government to use its financial power, the best positioned in the Tohoku region, to implement measures to support residents’ lives and livelihoods.