14.17 Million voters cast ballots early for Japan upper house poll

July 21, 2019

Tokyo--A total of 14,172,236 voters cast their ballots early for Sunday's House of Councillors election in Japan in the 15 days from July 5, the day after the official campaign period for the poll began, the internal affairs ministry said Saturday.

The number of early voters, accounting for 13.30 pct of all eligible voters in the nation, was up by some 970,000 from the figure for the first 15 days in the campaign period for the previous Upper House election in 2016, according to the ministry.

Of the country's 47 prefectures, 42, excluding Aomori, Toyama, Nagano, Tokushima and Oita, logged increases in early voters.

The growth is believed to have come as the number of polling stations was increased by some 400.

The total number of early voters may exceed the record high of 15,978,516 marked in the 2016 Upper House election, for which the start of the official campaign period was moved up by one day. Jiji Press