The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

Tokyo Assembly election campaign starts

June 23, 2017

Tokyo- The official campaign period for the July 2 Tokyo metropolitan assembly election began on Friday, with over 250 candidates set to vie for the assembly's 127 seats in 42 electoral districts. Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites first group), a new regional party headed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, will clash with the Liberal Democratic Party for the biggest presence in the assembly, currently held by the LDP.

The focus is whether Koike will be able to solidify her power base by securing a majority in the assembly with her party and other parties supporting her, including Komeito.
The election results are likely to affect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's possible decision on when to dissolve the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, for a snap election. The term of the incumbent Lower House lawmakers will expire in December 2018.
"Tokyo no longer needs an old assembly or old politics" catering to the wishes of bosses, Koike said in a stump speech in front of Shibuya Station in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward Friday morning, apparently criticizing the LDP.
A total of 258 people filed their candidacy by 1:30 p.m. (4:30 a.m. GMT), up from 253 in the previous election in 2013.
Major campaign issues include the planned relocation of the aging Tsukiji wholesale food market in Chuo Ward to the Toyosu district in the neighboring Koto Ward.
After taking office in August last year, Koike put off the relocation from the previously scheduled November last year due chiefly to concerns over soil contamination at the Toyosu site, which was previously used by a gas plant.
On Tuesday, Koike announced her decision to relocate the Tsukiji market to the Toyosu site while redeveloping the Tsukiji site instead of selling it.
Tomin First has endorsed 50 candidates and recommended 35 others, including Komeito candidates and independents who quit the Democratic Party.
The LDP, which has 57 seats, has put up 60 candidates to cover all electoral districts, aiming to maintain the top presence in the assembly that the party recaptured in the 2013 election.
The LDP faces a headwind as it dissolved its partnership with Komeito in the assembly while maintaining the ruling coalition at the national level.
Concerns among LDP members are also growing because public support for the Abe cabinet has plunged due mainly to a scandal involving the Kake Educational Institution, headed by a personal friend of Abe, informed sources said.
The LDP will explain its policy measures so that it can win as many seats as possible, Abe told reporters in Okinawa Prefecture, where he was visiting.
Komeito hopes that all of its 23 official candidates will win seats in the assembly.
The Japanese Communist Party has endorsed 37 candidates and the DP has approved 23 candidates.
As of Thursday, Tokyo had 11,266,521 voters. (Jiji Press)

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