Photo/Illutration A candidate addresses supporters in Tarui, Gifu Prefecture, on April 18. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Some 56.0 percent of 125 mayoral elections in towns and villages that started on April 18 have already been decided because there was only one candidate.

In addition, a record high 30.3 percent of seats up for grabs in 373 assembly elections in those municipalities have been filled uncontested.

The races are part of the second half of unified local elections.

There were 195 overall candidates in the mayoral contests, and 70 ran unopposed.

Hokkaido saw the start of 35 mayoral election campaigns in towns and villages, the most in the country. The winners were announced in 25 of them.

In the village of Shosanbetsu in Hokkaido, the incumbent mayor was elected for the fifth time. The village saw only one mayoral candidate for the 13th consecutive election.

In the assembly elections, 1,250 people in 123 towns and villages were elected without challenge.

The uncontested ratio rose by 7 points from the previous unified elections. The number of  unchallenged candidates also rose by 262 people in 30 additional towns and villages.

In 20 towns and villages around Japan, the number of available assembly seats was higher than the number of candidates, up from eight in the previous local elections.

They included: Akkeshi in Hokkaido (with 13 town assembly seats); Haga in Tochigi Prefecture (14); Kanra in Gunma Prefecture (12); Mikurajima in Tokyo (6); four villages in Nagano Prefecture; Kamikitayama in Nara Prefecture (6); and Kuroshio in Kochi Prefecture (14).

Haga and Kanra were two candidates short, while the other towns and villages were one candidate short.

According to an Asahi Shimbun tally, 671 women are running for assembly seats in towns and villages, accounting for a record high 14.7 percent of all candidates.

(This article was written by Yuki Nikaido and Masao Hayashi.)

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