Campaigning kicks off for Tokyo Assembly election
Candidates running for seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly have kicked off nine days of official campaigning. The Assembly election is being viewed as a prelude to the Upper House election that will be held this summer.
A total of 295 candidates are vying for 127 seats in 42 districts. That is the highest number of candidates for an assembly election in over three decades.
The Liberal Democratic Party is fielding 42 candidates, TOMIN First is running 37, Komeito 22, the Japanese Communist Party 24 and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan 20. The Japan Innovation Party has six candidates, and Tokyo Seikatsusha Network has three. Those political parties have seats in the Assembly.
The Democratic Party for the People is running 18 candidates, Reiwa Shinsengumi is fielding three, Sanseito four, the Conservative Party of Japan one, the Social Democratic Party one and the Path to Rebirth 42. None of them has seats in the Assembly.
Seventy-two candidates are either running with other groups or as independents.
Observers are eager to see whether the LDP will be able to remain the biggest force in the Assembly, despite the money scandal that some of the party's Assembly members were involved in. The members failed to declare some of the revenue from fundraising events.
Observers are also waiting to see whether the parties supporting Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko, such as the LDP, TOMIN First and Komeito, will maintain a combined majority in the Assembly, or whether the opposition forces will push them into the minority.
The Assembly election will be held on June 22. Campaigning is expected to be intense, as the results could affect the next Upper House election.
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