| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 127 seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly 64 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turnout | 54.49%(10.50%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 12 July 2009. In the runup to the Japanese general election due by October they were seen as an important test for Taro Aso's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito. New Komeito considers Tokyo as an important stronghold and had repeatedly asked Prime Minister Aso to avoid holding the two elections within a month of each other. [1]
Campaigning officially started on July 3, 2009. [2] The prefecture's 10.6 million registered voters (up 230,000 from 2005) were called upon to elect the 127 Assembly members in 42 electoral districts at 1,868 polling stations across Tokyo. [3] 221 candidates had been formally registered with the Tokyo metropolitan electoral commission. The LDP and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) each endorsed 58 candidates, the Japan Communist Party (JCP) supports 40 and New Komeito formally fields 23 candidates, [4] though it has also decided to support LDP candidates in several districts. [5] Local campaign issues included Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games and governor Shintaro Ishihara's plan to relocate the Tsukiji fish market in 2012. [6] The national debate over a possible ban of "hereditary" (世襲, seshū) politicians has also affected several candidates. [7]
Tokyo's legislative election is one of only three elections for prefectural parliaments countrywide that are not held in the "unified regional election" (tōitsu chihō senkyo, last round: 2007), the other two being Ibaraki's and Okinawa's prefectural assembly elections.
Polls closed at 8:00 pm Japan Standard Time. Turnout was significantly up from 2005 and stood at 54.5 percent. The DPJ picked up 20 seats and saw 54 of their 58 candidates elected. The LDP lost its status as strongest party in the Metropolitan Assembly for the first time since 1965. Despite strong results for coalition partner Kōmeitō, the ruling camp could not defend an absolute majority (64 seats). [8] [9] [10] The only electoral district where an LDP candidate received the most votes (top tōsen) was the single-member [Izu and Ogasawara] islands electoral district of former assembly president Chūichi Kawashima, [11] a native of Ōshima town who had represented the islands since 1985.
Parties | Candidates | Votes | % | Seats |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) | 58 | 2,298,494 | 40.79 | 54 |
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (自由民主党, Jiyū Minshutō) | 58 | 1,458,108 | 25.88 | 38 |
New Komeito Party (公明党, Kōmeitō) | 23 | 743,427 | 13.19 | 23 |
Japanese Communist Party (日本共産党, Nihon Kyōsan-tō) | 40 | 707,602 | 12.56 | 8 |
Tokyo Seikatsusha Network (東京・生活者ネットワーク) | 5 | 110,407 | 1.96 | 2 |
Social Democratic Party (社民党 Shamin-tō) | 2 | 20,084 | 0.36 | 0 |
Others | 13 | 45,329 | 0.80 | 0 |
Independents | 22 | 250,869 | 4.45 | 2 |
Total (turnout 54.49%) | 221 | 5,705,441 | 100.00 | 127 |
Source: Tokyo electoral commission Archived 2013-02-20 at the Wayback Machine |
The president of the LDP's Tokyo prefectural federation, one of governor Ishihara's then two sons in the national House of Representatives, Nobuteru, initially hinted to step down as LDP Tokyo chief, but eventually stayed on. Nationally, Tarō Asō came under pressure within his party to resign immediately as party president-prime minister, [12] but could avoid a leadership challenge by calling the general election of the House of Representatives early [13] – the election on August 30 resulted in a landslide loss for the ruling coalition.
Democrat Ryō Tanaka from Suginami was elected assembly president, Kantarō Suzuki (Kōmeitō, Arakawa) became vice president. The assembly majority in the new assembly is often involved in disputes with governor Ishihara over the budget, the Tsukiji relocation and other issues. [14] [15] [16] Yet, in the gubernatorial election of 2011 (part of the unified regional election), Ishihara was safely reelected for a fourth term.
Akihiro Ota is a Japanese politician of the Komeito Party, currently serving his seventh term in the House of Representatives in the National Diet. Ota has represented three districts within the Tokyo metropolis since first entering the national Diet in 1993. He served as chief representative of the Komeito Party from 2006 until the general election in September 2009, at which time he lost his seat in the Diet. Upon his return to the House in December 2012, Ota was appointed as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, a post he held until October 2015.
General elections were held in Japan on August 30, 2009 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition in a landslide, winning 221 of the 300 constituency seats and receiving 42.4% of the proportional block votes for another 87 seats, a total of 308 seats to only 119 for the LDP.
General elections were held in Japan on 16 December 2012. Voters gave the Liberal Democratic Party a landslide victory, ejecting the Democratic Party from power after three years. It was the fourth worst defeat suffered by a ruling party in Japanese history.
The Tokyo 3rd district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It is located in Tokyo and encompasses Shinagawa ward and several outlying islands that belong to the Tokyo Metropolis.
The 17th unified local elections in Japan took place in April 2011. In the first phase on April 10, 2011, 12 governors, 41 prefectural assemblies as well as five mayors and 15 assemblies in cities designated by government ordinance were elected. In the second phase on April 24, 2011, mayors and assemblies in hundreds of cities, "special wards" of Tokyo, towns, and villages were up for election. Additionally, a by-election for the National Diet was held in Aichi on April 24.
The Shikoku proportional representation block is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It consists of Shikoku region covering Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi Prefectures. Following the introduction of proportional voting it elected seven representatives in the 1996 general election. When the total number of PR seats was reduced from 200 to 180, the Shikoku PR block shrank to six seats.
The Tōkyō proportional representation block, or more formally the proportional representation tier "Tokyo Metropolis electoral district", is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It consists solely of the prefecture of Tokyo making it one of two blocks covering only one prefecture, the other being Hokkaido. Following the introduction of proportional voting Tokyo elected 19 representatives by PR in the 1996 general election, and 17 since the election of 2000 when the total number of PR seats was reduced from 200 to 180.
Events in the year 2012 in Japan.
The 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on February 9, 2014 to replace outgoing Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned effective December 24, 2013. Yōichi Masuzoe was declared the winner in exit polling, with a substantial lead over the fifteen other candidates. His final tally was 2,112,979 votes (42.86%), with his two closest competitors Morihiro Hosokawa and Kenji Utsunomiya failing to break the 20% mark. Total turnout was 4,930,251 (46.14%), significantly lower than the 62.6% turnout in the 2012 election.
The first stage of the 18th unified local elections in Japan took place on April 12, 2015. The Liberal Democratic Party under leadership of Shinzo Abe was the overall victor, winning many races including all ten gubernatorial races and 1,153 of the 2,284 assembly seats at stake. Further elections for municipal mayors and assemblies took place on April 26.
House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on Sunday 10 July 2016 to elect 121 of the 242 members of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet, for a term of six years. As a result of the election, the Liberal Democratic Party–Komeito coalition gained ten seats for a total of 145, the largest coalition achieved since the size of the house was set at 242 seats.
The 2015 Hyōgo prefectural election was an election for the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly held on 12 April 2015 as part of the 2015 unified local elections in Japan. The election saw the number of assembly members reduced from 89 to 87 and the number of electoral districts reduced from 41 to 40. Voting was held in 23 districts and representatives for the remaining 17 districts were elected unopposed. The election was held in the wake of the political expenses scandal that was exposed in July 2014 involving multiple assembly members and was notable for former assemblyman Ryutaro Nonomura's outburst of uncontrolled sobbing at a news conference.
The 2016 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on 31 July 2016 to elect the successor to Governor Yoichi Masuzoe, who submitted his resignation to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on 15 June 2016. By-elections in four of Tokyo's cities were held on the same day to fill vacancies in the Assembly.
A by-election for the Tokyo 10th district in the Japanese Japanese House of Representatives was held on 23 October 2016 to replace Yuriko Koike, who vacated the seat to contest the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July 2016. Koike, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), had represented the district since the December 2012 general election and also served a previous term from 2005 to 2009. The election was won by LDP candidate Masaru Wakasa, an incumbent member for the Tokyo proportional representation block who had supported Koike during her gubernatorial campaign. A separate by-election for the Fukuoka 6th district was held on the same day.
Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 2 July 2017. The 127 members were elected in forty-two electoral districts, seven returning single members elected by first-past-the-post, and thirty-five returning multiple members under single non-transferable vote. Four districts had their magnitude adjusted in this election to match population changes.
The 2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on 5 July 2020 to elect the Governor of Tokyo. In a result viewed as an endorsement of her handling of Tokyo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, incumbent Yuriko Koike was re-elected for a second term in a landslide, increasing her share of the vote to 59.7%.
Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 4 July 2021. The 127 members were elected in forty-two electoral districts, seven returning single members elected by first-past-the-post, and thirty-five returning multiple members under single non-transferable vote. Two districts had their magnitude adjusted in this election to match population changes.
House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 10 July 2022 to elect 125 of the 248 members of the upper house of the National Diet, for a term of six years. The elected candidate with the fewest votes in the Kanagawa prefectural district will serve for three years, as the district combined its regular and byelections.
Akimasa Suzuki is a Japanese politician who is the Mayor of Ōta, a Special ward of Tokyo, since April 2023. A former member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Suzuki was chairman of the Special Committee on Budget and Chairman of the General Affairs Committee.