Editorial: Tokyo assembly race candidates should debate measures to ease livelihood worries

The Mainichi

3 days ago

Campaigning for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election officially started on June 13, with roughly 300 candidates -- the largest since the Heisei era (1989-2019) -- expected to run in the race vying for the 127 seats in the council.
Political parties will face voters' judgment on June 22, election day, over how they are responding to the voices of people experiencing anxieties about their cost of living.
Voters are keenly interested in measures to combat high prices. The consumer price index for Tokyo's 23 wards in May rose 3.6% from last year, reaching the highest since January 2023. This is due to the soaring prices of rice and utility bills.
Overheated real estate investments and rising material prices in recent years are pushing up housing prices and rents, putting pressure on people's lives.
The declining birth rate must also be quickly addressed. The total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman is estimated to bear in her lifetime -- in the capital stood at 0.96 in 2024, the lowest in the country.
In their campaign pledges, many parties advocate for the promotion of wage hikes, support for housing costs and enhancing childrearing measures. It is necessary to hold thorough discussions on how to assist those in need.
How the parties are going to deal with the issue of "money in politics" is also being called into question. In the wake of the revelation of a slush funds scandal involving the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) faction's fundraising parties, the issue has been deliberated at a metropolitan assembly committee since February. However, the question of how and why the pooling of those secret funds commenced remains unanswered.
The LDP is heading into the race amid such a headwind, desperate to remain as the largest faction in the assembly. Meanwhile, Komeito, the LDP's junior coalition partner in national politics, has avoided rallying behind LDP candidates in the assembly contest. Tomin First no Kai, a regional party for which Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike serves as a special adviser, is aiming to regain control of the council.
The Japanese Communist Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan have arranged their candidates in a bid to boost their seats in the assembly. The Democratic Party for the People, which made a strong showing in last year's House of Representatives election, is seeking to win its first seat in the capital council.
It has come under the spotlight whether The Path to Rebirth, a regional party launched by Shinji Ishimaru, will win a seat. Ishimaru emerged as the runner-up to Koike in last summer's Tokyo gubernatorial race.
The rapidly widespread use of social media has been impacting the landscape of elections throughout Japan. Each campaign team is called on to come up with a strategy with an eye on both positive and negative aspects of social media.
In the Tokyo gubernatorial poll, numerous ads unrelated to candidates were put up on the bulletin boards for campaign posters. The metropolitan assembly race is the first large-scale election where the revised Public Offices Election Act with tougher regulations is being applied.
With the capital being home to a 11 million-plus electorate, the outcome of the Tokyo assembly contests often become precursors to national election results. Each party is putting their effort into the current race by taking it as a preliminary to the House of Councillors election slated immediately afterward.
There is also a plethora of challenges common across the country, such as the aging society and disaster prevention. We expect the candidates to engage in debates that confront these issues head on.