The growing prospect of a snap general election in Japan at an unspecified date is sending election officials in the snowy northern city of Sapporo scrambling to prepare.
Officials with the city’s election management committee have gone on election footing since Saturday. They have been working through the weekend, a national holiday on Monday and sometimes well into the night, after media raised the possibility of such an election.
On Wednesday, executives of Japan’s ruling coalition parties said that Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae has decided to dissolve the Lower House early in the new Diet session, which opens on January 23.
Election officials in Sapporo say that the local snowy conditions present them with a particular challenge in preparing for a general election in winter. They say that it will take much longer to secure locations for setting up bulletin boards where candidates are allowed to display their election posters.
In the two most recent national elections, held in summer and fall, Sapporo set up the display boards at around 2,000 locations. The officials say that the number of such boards this time will have to be reduced significantly.
They also say an unusually tight schedule for preparing for the upcoming election will make it impossible for them to send out voter admission postcards to all of the approximately 1.69 million eligible voters in the city before early voting starts.
Naka Katsuhiro, a committee official, says this will be the first time in 36 years for a national election to be held in January or February, so most of its staff members have no experience dealing with one in winter. He says he’s hoping that the election date will be decided as soon as possible.
Prime Minister Takaichi is reportedly planning to hold a news conference on Monday to announce the date and provide other details.
AloJapan.com