[Japan] Ruling coalition to maintain majority

The LDP is also looking to maintain a single-party majority in the House of Representatives and appeared to have a slight edge, based on Yomiuri Shimbun exit polls.

“If the ruling coalition wins a majority of seats, we want to regard it as a public mandate,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the LDP president, said during an interview with NHK earlier on Sunday night. “Since ballot counting is still underway, we want to watch the results with caution.”

By managing to win a majority of seats in the 49th House of Representatives election, the LDP fought off a concerted effort by the opposition bloc led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

The CDPJ combined with other opposition parties to field single candidates in a number of battleground constituencies in a bid to prevent the LDP from gaining a majority, but the strategy did not result in enough gains.

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) looked to see its status raised to possibly become the third-largest party in the lower house, as it appeared on the cusp of perhaps tripling its seats from the 11 it previously held.

The LDP, which had 276 seats prior to the dissolution of the lower house, looked to lose dozen of seats, but could still have enough for a sole majority.

LDP Secretary General Akira Amari was among LDP party leaders and Cabinet members who were involved in tough fights in battleground constituencies.

Asked what he would do if he was defeated in his single-seat constituency, Amari said on a TV program on Sunday night, “I have to leave the decision about my future to the prime minister.”

Taro Kono, chairperson of the LDP Public Relations Headquarters, looked certain to win in Kanagawa Constituency No. 15.

“If the ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito is allowed to continue holding the reins of government as a result of today’s election, we want to work as one to firmly move Japan forward,” Kono said.

Karen Makishima, an LDP member who currently serves as the digital minister, also appeared to have secured a seat in Kanagawa Constituency No. 17.

“I’m very grateful. I’ve heard expressions of great expectation, while also hearing critical voices,” Makishima said. “I feel we must carry out party reforms, and thoroughly implement one by one the measures that voters want.”

Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said at his party’s headquarters: “I felt that we steadily gained momentum. I hope that will be reflected in the results.”

Earlier, Yuzuru Takeuchi, the chairperson of Komeito’s political research committee, told reporters, “I’m confident that all [of the party’s candidates] will be elected.”

Komeito Secretary General Keiichi Ishii said, “We really want to win in all nine single-seat constituencies and secure 8 million votes under proportional representation.”

■Sole majority holds key

“Do you put your trust in the LDP-Komeito administration to run the country, or do you put your trust in the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the rest of the opposition camp?” Kishida asked voters on Saturday in Chofu, Tokyo.

“This is what is at stake in this election,” he said.

It was the last day of campaigning ahead of Sunday’s House of Representatives election.

The prime minister has set a minimum target of winning 233 seats to secure a majority to keep the ruling coalition in power. In many constituencies, close battles between the ruling and opposition candidates were expected, meaning it was highly likely the LDP will have fewer than its 276 seats before the lower house was dissolved.

In the previous general election in 2017, the ruling camp scored an overwhelming victory, winning more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house. Therefore, one focus of Sunday’s election was how much the ruling camp could minimize its losses.

If the LDP loses 44 or more seats, the party loses its sole majority, so that is another point of focus.

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun’s survey on the final phase of election battles, only 133 out of 277 LDP candidates in single-seat constituencies were in an advantageous situation.

“It’s too soon for me to talk about the single-party majority,” Kishida said during a BS Fuji TV program on Tuesday. “We could lose one seat after another if a slight change occurs in trends.”

Among the single-seat constituencies having significant effects on the election are the 132 in which the ruling and opposition camps are squaring off in one-on-one battles.

In the final analysis before Sunday’s election, 104 LDP candidates were in a precarious situation. They included high-profile LDP members, such as Amari in Kanagawa Constituency No. 13 and former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takumi Nemoto in Fukushima Constituency No. 2.