Photo/Illutration Supporters gather on April 11 for a campaign speech by a candidate in the Lower House by-election in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. (Shoma Fujiwaki)

Campaigning officially began on April 11 for four Lower House by-elections, with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party trying to retain the three seats its candidates won in the 2021 Lower House election.

The seat in the Chiba No. 5 district became vacant after the LDP’s Kentaro Sonoura resigned in the wake of revelations that proper political fund reports had not been filed.

Normally, such a scandal would see the LDP candidate facing a storm of criticism, but the opposition is helping the ruling party by having four parties each field a candidate, thereby splitting support from those backing the opposition parties and unaffiliated voters.

With all parties seeking to win in the unified local elections, the four opposition parties could not agree on a single candidate for the Chiba by-election.

Voting for the four by-elections will be held on April 23 in line with the second half of the unified local elections.

Two districts in Yamaguchi Prefecture will select a new Lower House member, with one to replace Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister who was killed in July while giving a campaign speech in Nara for an Upper House candidate.

Abe’s support group has rallied behind Shinji Yoshida, 39, a former Shimonoseki municipal assembly member.

The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is fielding Yoshifu Arita, 71, a former Upper House member.

The other Yamaguchi district vacancy came after Nobuo Kishi, a former defense minister, resigned for health reasons.

Kishi’s eldest son, Nobuchiyo, 31, is being challenged by Hideo Hiraoka, 69, a former Lower House member.

The seat in the Wakayama No. 1 district was vacated by Shuhei Kishimoto, who won the seat while running on the Democratic Party for the People ticket.

The LDP candidate in the by-election, Hirofumi Kado, 57, lost to Kishimoto in the 2021 election but gained a seat through the proportional representation constituency.

Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) is fielding Yumi Hayashi, 41, a former Wakayama municipal assembly member, in the hopes of repeating the success of the April 9 Nara gubernatorial election in which the Nippon Ishin candidate defeated the LDP-backed one.

Like Nara, Wakayama lies next to Osaka Prefecture, the power base for Nippon Ishin.

(This article was written by Daijiro Honda, Takeshi Aose, Masahiro Kakihana, Hideki Ito, Michio Mizuta and Takero Yamazaki.)

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