Photo/Illutration Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, right, with Hideyuki Yokoyama, who was elected Osaka mayor, in Osaka on April 9. Yoshimura heads Osaka Ishin no Kai. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

OSAKA--Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) gained its first governor’s post outside its stronghold of Osaka Prefecture while winning double elections on its home turf.

In neighboring Nara Prefecture, Makoto Yamashita, 54, a former mayor of Ikoma in the prefecture who ran on the Nippon Ishin ticket, was elected governor on April 9.

Yamashita defeated five other candidates, including Sho Hiraki, 48, a former internal affairs ministry bureaucrat backed by the Liberal Democratic Party’s prefectural chapter, and incumbent Shogo Arai, 78, who had also been supported by the LDP.

“Many prefectural residents approved of what Nippon Ishin has been doing in Osaka Prefecture,” Yamashita told a news conference on the evening of April 9.

In Osaka Prefecture, Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, 47, who heads the regional party Osaka Ishin no Kai, was re-elected to a second term.

Hideyuki Yokoyama, 41, a former Osaka prefectural assembly member who ran on the party ticket, was elected mayor of Osaka city.

Osaka Ishin no Kai won both gubernatorial and mayoral elections for the fourth consecutive time since it first seized the two posts in 2011.

Yokoyama succeeds Ichiro Matsui, a co-founder of Osaka Ishin no Kai, who resigned from politics.

“Support from residents of Osaka and Nara prefectures has borne fruit in a big way,” Nobuyuki Baba, who heads Nippon Ishin, said April 9. “This will serve as a momentum for seeking the posts of heads of local governments, Diet members and local assembly members.”

In the unified local elections held on April 9, Osaka Ishin no Kai secured a majority of seats in the Osaka municipal assembly for the first time and also maintained its majority in the Osaka prefectural assembly.

Many LDP incumbents lost seats in both the Osaka municipal and prefectural assembly elections.

Nippon Ishin also gained seats in local assemblies of other areas, where the LDP typically holds a majority.

“With Nippon Ishin gaining traction, we may not simply lose seats, but more lawmakers and candidates could migrate to its camp,” a senior LDP official said.

One goal for Nippon Ishin in the next Lower House election is to surpass the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and become the largest opposition party in national politics.

“It will become easier to field candidates in the Lower House election in areas where we win in the unified local elections,” a senior party official has said.

Nippon Ishin has worked closely with the CDP in national politics, such as jointly submitting bills, since the extraordinary Diet session last year.

But Nippon Ishin Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita told a news conference in March that the party plans to field more candidates than the CDP in the next Lower House election.

Nippon Ishin’s advance is also expected to threaten Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner in national politics.

In a 2020 referendum, Komeito supported Nippon Ishin’s proposal to create an Osaka metropolitan administration. In exchange, Nippon Ishin has refrained from putting up candidates in single-seat Lower House constituencies where Komeito fielded its own candidates.

Baba, however, said April 9 that the party will “reset” its relationship with Komeito.

The center of focus is six single-seat constituencies in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, where Komeito lawmakers currently hold seats.