Candidate backed by Japan's ruling class loses local vote after policy change

A candidate backed by Japan's ruling coalition was defeated by an opposition candidate in a local election for a governorship on Sunday, as voters showed increasing opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe'move to change a vital security policy.

Takashi Koyari, the candidate with the support of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, lost the election to former opposition Democratic party lawmaker Taizo Mikazuki,according to western prefecture of Shiga's final vote count.

The defeat was deemed as a backlash against Abe'move to end a ban on exercising the so-called "right of collective self-defense" that has kept the Japanese military from fighting abroad since Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945.

Japanese voters have voiced their protest against Abe's move on lifting ban on collective self-defense, with about 54.4 percent of respondents opposed to the security policy change, according to results of public opinion polls conducted earlier this month.

On Monday, about 400 demonstrators gathered at Japan's Diet building to continue their protests, as the Japanese parliament kicked off a special session targeting the Abe Cabinet's decision on lifting the ban on collective self-defense.