Upper House Election: Japan's Declining Population, Other Factors Leading to Fewer Polling Stations for House of Councillors Election
According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, 44,758 polling stations will be set up on Sunday's upper house election. This is 1,267 fewer than the previous upper house election in 2022. Except for Okinawa, 46 of the nation's 47 prefectures saw a decline.
The number of polling stations that will close earlier is also increasing. Under the Public Offices Election Law, voting hours are set from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., but the time can be changed by up to four hours under certain circumstances. This time, 18,142 polling stations — accounting for 40% of the total — are expected to close earlier than 8 p.m. This is 890 more than in the previous election.
The number of polling stations for the upper house election peaked during the 2001 upper house election at 53,439.
Compared to the 2022 election, Hokkaido saw the largest decrease, with a 109 reduction of stations. 'Securing staffers for election administration work is challenging, and more municipalities are reducing the number of polling stations,' explained an election official of the Hokkaido prefectural government.
The official said the prefecture has adopted several measures to secure voting opportunities for voters, such as dispatching mobile polling stations for early voting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Ishiba Offers Apology to LDP Members over Election Defeat; Talks about Avoiding ‘Political Vacuum'
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba offered an apology for the party's crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election on July 20, at an informal meeting of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and the upper house at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday. 'Many of our fellow colleagues have lost their seats. For that I deeply and sincerely apologize,' said Ishiba, who also is the LDP president. 'I have candidly reflected on why this result came about. I thank you and apologize to those who helped us in regional areas, the people at the party headquarters and those in LDP organizations. 'I want to sincerely listen to the opinions of the public. Why did this election result come about? Were our policies not acceptable? Was our approach deserving of criticism?' Ishiba did not make any mention of resigning in his opening remarks. 'I want to fulfill my responsibility not to create a political vacuum,' Ishiba said. LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama said the party will set up an organization to review its performance in the upper house election. Moriyama said the new organization plans to release a report next month. Talking about the Japan-U.S. tariff deal reached last week, Ishiba said, 'We have to make utmost efforts to move the deal forward.' He added that the Japan-U.S. deal could be used as model for global trade. Aside from the opening remarks by Ishiba and Moriyama, the meeting was closed to the media.
3 hours ago
Ishiba Vows Not to Create Political Vacuum
News from Japan Politics Jul 28, 2025 17:57 (JST) Tokyo, July 28 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday reiterated his intention to stay in office after his ruling party's crushing defeat in a parliamentary election earlier this month, saying that he would not create a political vacuum. "I will fulfill my responsibility to the nation and the people so that a political vacuum will never be created," Ishiba told a meeting of members of his Liberal Democratic Party. At the beginning of the meeting, Ishiba said, "I deeply and sincerely apologize that many fellow lawmakers lost their seats" in the July 20 House of Councillors election. "I will make all-out efforts for the steady implementation" of the Japan-U.S. trade agreement reached last week, he said. He added: "I will do my best for the nation and the people with my sincere heart. I will work with that in the future." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Xenophobia worries and a ban on smiling: Our 5 most-read stories from last week
We've listed our five most read stories on The Mainichi news site, from top to bottom, that were published between July 19 and 27. The first story was viewed by 30.1% of our regular readers. (The Mainichi) Naturalized linguist in Japan laments recent political trend to blame foreigners MUNAKATA, Fukuoka -- An American-born linguist who acquired Japanese nationality two years ago is concerned about the trend that was recently seen in the lead-up to the July 20 House of Councillors election in Japan. With one political party promoting a "Japanese First" agenda and misinformation spreading online, the scholar compared it to the division seen in the U.S. Interviewed before the upper house election, she said she planned to vote to support harmony. Full story. Blameless but facing deportation: Japan immigration law's inexplicable provision One day a foreign woman living in Japan suddenly received a visit from a police officer at her workplace. She had come under suspicion of aiding the illegal work of a Vietnamese man. The woman herself had come to Japan to work, but she had no recollection of ever having helped someone work illegally, and half a year later, the criminal charges were dropped. Full story. LDP's Mio Sugita loses upper house seat after backlash over discriminatory remarks TOKYO -- Former House of Representatives member Mio Sugita failed to secure a seat in the July 20 House of Councillors election after facing increasing criticism over her repeated discriminatory remarks. Full story. West Japan town's 'kappa' folklore creature to be replaced after years of scaring tourists FUKUSAKI, Hyogo -- A popular statue of a "kappa" river creature from Japanese folklore in this western Japan town will be replaced after becoming worn out from years of "work" by popping out of a pond to surprise tourists. Full story. Japan high school baseball team banned from smiling, waving in tourney entrance march HIROSAKI, Aomori -- A high school baseball team that smiled and waved as they marched during the summer 2024 Aomori Prefecture tournament's opening ceremony had to abandon doing the same this year as the prefectural baseball federation asked the players to follow tradition. Full story.
