There were the usual election upsets and some surprises as voting in the Oct. 31 Lower House election pointed to a major victory for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
For example, attention on the Hiroshima No. 3 district prior to voting day largely concerned a money scandal that resulted in a husband-and-wife pair of LDP lawmakers resigning their seats.<\/p>\n
But exit polls showed the seat will remain in the hands of the ruling coalition as Tetsuo Saito of junior coalition partner Komeito was set to win it.<\/p>\n
The seat was formerly held by Katsuyuki Kawai of the LDP when he served as justice minister, but he was indicted on vote-buying charges stemming from the 2019 Upper House election of his wife, Anri. Both were found guilty and gave up their seats.<\/p>\n
Saito is the land minister in Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas administration. Kishida represents a neighboring district in Hiroshima Prefecture.<\/p>\n
The strong united front put up by the opposition parties resulted in the defeat of an LDP faction leader,Nobuteru Ishihara, a former LDP secretary-general and the son of former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara.<\/p>\n
Helost in the Tokyo No. 8 district to Harumi Yoshida of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. But Nobuteru Ishihara was expected to retain a Lower House seat because he was also included in the LDPs proportional representation constituency in the Tokyo bloc.<\/p>\n
Yoshida gained the support of other opposition parties, such as the Japanese Communist Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi, in the one-on-one battle with Ishihara.<\/p>\n
A similar contest in Shikoku also led to the defeat of a former Cabinet minister.<\/p>\n
Takuya Hirai, the state minister in charge of digitalization under Kishidas predecessor, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, before he resigned in September, lost in the Kagawa No. 1 district to Junya Ogawa of the CDP.<\/p>\n
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Coalition retains seat once held by disgraced LDP lawmaker | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis - Asahi Shimbun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There were the usual election upsets and some surprises as voting in the Oct. 31 Lower House election pointed to a major victory for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. For example, attention on the Hiroshima No. Continue reading