Japan Press Weekly

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2021 June 23 - 29 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Women candidates for Metropolitan Assembly race account for 58.6% in JCP while only 15% in LDP

The number of women candidates running on the Japanese Communist Party ticket for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election slated for July 4 totals 18 out of 31 candidates, accounting for 58.6%, while 15% and 13% of candidates are women in the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party, respectively.

A women advocacy group on June 24 published a statement criticizing the two governing parties, stating that their proportion of women candidates is remarkably insufficient.

The group conducted a survey of candidates for the Metropolitan Assembly election, the first race since the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field came into effect in 2018 requiring political parties to field the same number of male and female candidates if possible.

Referring to the ratio of about 30 % of women candidates to the total, the group in the statement said, "The ratio is inappropriate for Japan's capital of Tokyo as a cosmopolitan city calling for diversity."

According to the survey results, to the question about efforts to increase the number of women candidates, the LDP answered that it is more important to create an environment that enables more women to take part in politics than to set a numerical target. The group pointed out that this answer represents the LDP's unwillingness to increase endorsement of women candidates. To the question if the LDP has a plan to balance the number of male and female candidates, the party did not respond. The Komei Party did not take part in the survey.