Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered a record-low result in Sunday’s Tokyo assembly election, seen as a prelude to July’s House of Councillors race, further straining his minority government in national politics.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to reporters at the metropolitan government headquarters in the Japanese capital on June 23, 2025, after Tomin First no Kai, the regional party she established, won 32 seats in the 127-member metropolitan assembly, the most in the previous day’s Tokyo assembly election. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Tomin First no Kai, a regional party established by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, won 32 seats, the most in the 127-member metropolitan assembly, indicating the popularity of her public welfare and child-rearing policies. One affiliated independent is included in the figure.
The LDP took 22 seats — including three won by candidates previously affiliated with the party but not officially endorsed due to a political funding scandal — falling below the previous record-low of 23 it garnered in 2017.
On Monday, Ishiba told reporters, “We received a very harsh verdict,” adding, “We need to thoroughly analyze which of our messages failed to resonate with voters and apply those lessons moving forward.”
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force in national politics, and the LDP’s junior coalition partner Komeito party won 17 and 19 seats, respectively.
The Democratic Party for the People, which has recently gained momentum in the national parliament, won nine seats, its first wins in the Tokyo assembly election.
Sanseito, a new right-wing populist party, secured three seats — its first in the Tokyo assembly.
Before the race, the LDP held 30 seats, followed by Tomin First with 26, Komeito with 23, and the CDPJ with 12. Voter turnout for the latest election was 47.59 percent, up 5.20 percentage points from the 2021 vote.
The election commission said around 1.73 million people cast early ballots by Saturday, about 300,000 more than in the previous election.
Liberal Democratic Party election chief Seiji Kihara (L) and Shinji Inoue, head of the party’s Tokyo chapter, watch media projections of voting results for the Tokyo assembly election on June 22, 2025, at the party’s headquarters in the Japanese capital. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
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AloJapan.com