Campaigns start for Lower House by-elections in Tokyo, Fukuoka

Official campaigning kicked off Oct. 11 for two Lower House by-elections that could determine whether the Abe administration can maintain its momentum and if opposition parties will continue their election cooperation.

Voting day is Oct. 23 for both the Tokyo No. 10 constituency and Fukuoka No. 6 constituency by-elections.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided to field one candidate for the by-election in the capital to fill the seat vacated by LDP member Yuriko Koike, who won the Tokyo governor’s election on July 31.

However, the LDP could not decide between two candidates in Fukuoka, so they ran as independents.

The by-elections will be the first national ones since Renho became leader of the main opposition Democratic Party in September. She has said the party will continue to cooperate in elections with other opposition parties in a bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In both constituencies, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the People’s Life Party & Taro Yamamoto and Friends will support candidates on the Democratic Party’s ticket.

The results of the by-elections could hinge on the level of cooperation and unity of the two sides.

“The LDP and (junior ruling coalition partner) Komeito are jointly supporting the Abe administration. All of our party members will unite to win this by-election,” LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai said in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, which is part of the Tokyo No. 10 constituency, on Oct. 11.

On the same day down south in Kyushu, Democratic Party Secretary-General Yoshihiko Noda emphasized that the opposition parties will work together.

“We will fight based on the ideas of the Democratic Party. The thinking among other opposition parties is that they want to stop the ‘reckless driving’ of the Abe administration and heighten their capabilities to keep it in check,” Noda said in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, part of the Fukuoka No. 6 constituency.

For the Tokyo by-election, the LDP is fielding Masaru Wakasa, 59, a former Lower House member of the party.

However, some members of the LDP’s Tokyo metropolitan chapter initially rejected the idea of backing Wakasa because he had supported Koike’s campaign for Tokyo governor, a violation of the LDP’s policy to throw its weight behind Hiroya Masuda in the race.

A ceremony held in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Oct. 11 marks the start of the official campaign for the by-election in the Lower House’s Fukuoka No. 6 constituency. Photo:asahi.com

LDP headquarters wanted to end the conflict with Koike, Tokyo’s first female governor, and get everyone behind one candidate for the by-election.

Koike joined Nikai at the rally for Wakasa on Oct. 11.

After the four opposition parties on Oct. 5 agreed to cooperate in the Tokyo by-election, the JCP decided to refrain from fielding a candidate. The parties are now all behind Yosuke Suzuki, 40, a rookie candidate of the Democratic Party who plans to attack Abe’s economic policies known as “Abenomics” during the campaign.

The third person to submit a candidacy on Oct. 11 for the Tokyo by-election was Toshimitsu Yoshii, 34, a newcomer of the Happiness Realization Party.

The by-election in the Fukuoka No. 6 constituency was made necessary when LDP member Kunio Hatoyama, a former justice minister, died in June.

Four people, all newcomers, submitted candidacies: Tadahiro Nishihara, 61, of the Happiness Realization Party; Fumiko Arai, 49, a vice representative of the Fukuoka prefectural chapter of the Democratic Party; Jiro Hatoyama, 37, former mayor of Okawa in Fukuoka Prefecture and the second son of Kunio; and Ken Kurauchi, 35, an aide to an Upper House lawmaker.

Kurauchi, who was supported by the LDP’s Fukuoka prefectural chapter, and Hatoyama, who failed to win the chapter's backing, competed for the party ticket until just before the official campaign started.

However, LDP headquarters in Tokyo decided not to field either of the two. If one of these two independents wins the Fukuoka by-election, he will be allowed to join the LDP.

In contrast, the JCP decided not to field a candidate in the Fukuoka No. 6 constituency and instead joined the three other opposition parties in support of Arai of the Democratic Party.

Arai and the opposition parties plan to emphasize in the election campaign that they will make efforts to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in Japan.

The LDP hopes that winning the two by-elections will give it momentum in Diet deliberations on a bill to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement.

(THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)