Japan Press Weekly

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2024 April 17 - 23 [POLITICS]

Campaign period for 3 Lower House by-elections officially begins

Official campaigning for three House of Representatives by-elections in the Tokyo No.15 constituency, the Shimane No.1 constituency, and the Nagasaki No.3 constituency began on April 16. These are the first national elections to be held after the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush fund scandal came to light. Voting and ballot counting are scheduled for April 28.

The by-election in Tokyo will be held to fill the vacant seat of ex-State Minister of Justice and former LDP lawmaker Kakizawa Mito who resigned after being convicted of vote-buying in a mayoral election in Koto Ward (the No.15 constituency). The by-election in Nagasaki will take place to replace an LDP lawmaker who stepped down due to his involvement in creating illegal slush funds. The Shimane by-election will be held in response to the death of former LDP Lower House member Hosoda Hiroyuki who served as Lower House Speaker.

The LDP was unable to put up its own candidates in Tokyo and Nagasaki.

Later in the day, Japanese Communist Party Chair Tamura Tomoko at a press conference in the Diet building said that the JCP in the Tokyo by-election will support a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan candidate, Sakai Natsumi, as a joint opposition candidate. She added that in the elections in Shimane and Nagasaki, the JCP will voluntarily support CDPJ candidates.

Tamura pointed out that public anger is growing at Prime Minister Kishida’s intent to draw a curtain on the matter with toothless penalties without uncovering the facts behind the off-the-book fund scandal. She continued to point out that the Kishida government’s inability to deal with the cost of living crisis fuels public anger.

Tamura stressed the importance of the success of collaboration with constitutional opposition parties in the three by-elections in order to put an end to the anti-people LDP politics, and expressed her determination to work hard to achieve this.

Past related article:
> Ex-State Minister of Justice Kakizawa arrested for vote-buying [December 29, 2023]